Former LTTE cadres to contest the election

Former cadres of LTTE have decided to contest the Sri Lankan parliament elections as an independent group after the main Tamil party TNA refused to field them in the August 17 polls.

 “They will contest as independents in the north and east provinces,” said Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, the former editor of a Tamil newspaper, according to the Press Trust of India.

 “We will field lists from the Jaffna and Wanni districts,” Vithyatharan added.

The TNA early this week said they were unable to consider the candidature of the rehabilitated cadres of the LTTE.

They will be considered for future elections, TNA leader R Sampanthan has said.

They are among the 11,000 LTTE cadres rehabilitated and released by the government since the end of the armed conflict in May 2009.