MR woos Northern votes in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi

Friday, 19 December 2014 01:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Urges Tamil people to keep him in office to prevent a return to dark era

Campaigning in the former LTTE strongholds of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi yesterday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the Tamil people to forget about the past and keep him in office to prevent a return to a ‘dark era’. Addressing crowds in the Mullaitivu District, the final theatre of battle between the Tigers and security forces in 2009, President Rajapaksa said after 30 years of war his Government had brought development to the Northern region in only five years. “We cannot allow history to be repeated in this country. Let’s unite to rebuild this country,” President Rajapaksa told the crowd. He said his Government had allowed the first provincial election in the North after 25 years. “You elected all your members,” the incumbent President, who is seeking a third term in office, said, referring to how the 2013 provincial election in the formerly embattled region saw the Tamil National Alliance win a two-thirds majority in the provincial assembly. “This election is about choosing a leader for your country,” he said, “if we divide ourselves into religions and races we cannot move forward.” President Rajapaksa also spoke a few lines in Tamil to the crowd in Mullaitivu. He also promised that the Colombo-Jaffna bound Yal Devi train would be making a stop in Mankulam in the Kilinochchi District. “The sound of the Yal Devi is the sound of your joy,” the incumbent candidate charged at his next campaign stop in Kilinochchi, the former de facto capital of the LTTE. “You have all suffered enough,” the President said. “Ask yourselves if you want to go back to that dark era again. Think about your children.” The President told crowds in Kilinochchi that the LTTE had prevented people from voting in Sri Lankan elections. “But in the 2013 election in the north, 73% voted,” he said. (DB)