Sri Lanka’s disenchanted Tamils are divided this election
Sri Lanka’s northern Tamil voters are torn this presidential election, between a candidate who may win, and one who will certainly lose. While some are backing one of the frontrunners among the Sinhalese candidates, others have decided to support a Tamil candidate. Every voter knows well that “Tamil common candidate” P. Ariyanethiran — fielded jointly by some political and civil society groups based in the island nation’s north and east — cannot win, given the numeric reality of Sri Lanka’s electoral map. The Sinhalese majority make up around 75 % of the country that was torn apart by bitter ethnic conflict between the two communities. All the same, many Tamil voters see him personifying their grievances. GROUND ZERO: A poverty of hope among Sri Lankan Tamils“After the civil war ended in 2...