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Tamil chief appointed as opposition leader in Sri Lanka's new parliament

Xinhua, September 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was recognized as the main opposition in the country's new parliament after Speaker Karu Jayasuriya appointed TNA Leader R. Sampanthan as the Opposition Leader on Thursday.

The TNA which won 16 seats in a parliamentary election last month became the second largest party to hold the most number of seats after several members from the main opposition United People 's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) agreed to join hands with the ruling United National Party (UNP) to form a national government.

Despite a group of UPFA members including former president Mahinda Rajapakse opposing the national government concept and agreeing to sit in the opposition benches, they remained outnumbered as they held lesser seats than the TNA.

A debate was held over the post of the opposition leader when the new parliament convened for the second time on Thursday with both the TNA and the UPFA demanding for the post, but later Parliament Speaker appointed Sampanthan to the post.

Sampanthan contested the Aug. 17 parliamentary elections from Trincomalee, in eastern Sri Lanka and received over 33,000 preferential votes to enter parliament.

He was appointed the Leader of the TNA in October 2001 and is the second Tamil politician since A. Amirthalingam to be appointed to the post of Opposition Leader in Sri Lanka.

The TNA has been demanding for the rights of the minority Tamils who suffered the most in a 30 year civil war between the government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels which ended in May 2009. Endi