Video: Lives of many of the Tamils in Sri Lanka's north remain difficult
Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay has gained rare access to refugee camps in the north, to take a look at the challenges still faced by the Tamils living there. [January 25, 2010]
Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka led the campaign that finally defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers that ended a quarter-century of war.
However, since the end of the war in May, the two have become bitter political rivals in what is expected to be a tight presidential race on Tuesday.
That division is likely to split the vote of the majority Sinhalese, leaving the minority Tamils to decide the outcome of the race.
Rajapaksa and Fonseka have both courted the Tamil minority, who make up about 18 per cent of the population.
Both candidates have tried to cash in politically on their popularity among the Sinhalese majority for crushing the LTTE.
1 Comments
I do not know how is it jutifiable to ask these war battered people to franchise their votes just few months after the battering.
As I am posting this after the conclusion of elections, the very poor voter turn over and the voting against the incumbent, shows us the unhappiness of these people against the invader of their land.
Though MR wanted to show off to the world that he is the president of whole Srilanka, the number of votes he got with the support of EPDP,does not underscore his selfish intentions!