The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran, questioned what change the election would bring for the Tamil people, stating that votes were cast merely to prevent election fraud in Tamil areas, not in any belief that the election would bring progress to the Tamil people.

"Whether our problems as Tamil people will be resolved whoever of these two come to power remains an important question," Premachandran told reporters in Jaffna on Thursday, after casting his vote.

"They say that if the opposition wins democracy will come to Sri Lanka however, a key question of mine is will this democracy come to the Northern province? Will that democracy stay in the South? Or will it look over at the North? Will the people here be able to live peacefully?" he asked.

"If democracy is to come to the Northern province, then the military here needs to leave. However, there are no agreements to remove the military from here. Even Maithripala Sirisena has very clearly said - I will not remove the military from the Northern province."

"Therefore, it remains an important question: will those even Tamil leaders who want to bring democracy, bring democracy to the North?" he said, adding that if such a democracy was to come about it would definitely be a good thing for the Tamil people.

"We [Tamils] have a right to vote as citizens of this country. I have voted in order to ensure that no one else can use my vote. It is on that basis that votes have been cast, not in the belief that the Tamil people will see a benefit from this election."