The Tamil National Alliance MP Suresh Premachandran said on Monday that his party was unhappy with both candidates for the presidential elections next month.

Speaking to the DailyMirror, Premachandran said opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena had sent some negative signals to the Tamil people, while President Rajapaksa's party had indicated that it would not rely on Tamil votes from the North-East.

“There is no solution offered to the problems of the Tamil people. There is no plan to resettle displaced Tamils. It seems that the common candidate is endorsing the views of Sinhala extremist forces backing him. Let alone a political solution, there is no approach even to address day to day problems,” Mr. Premachandran said.

The forthcoming presidential elections bring a great risk of violence, due to the unexpectedly close contest that is now anticipated between the candidates, said the International Crisis Group in its latest briefing.

“The opposition’s attempt to reopen democratic space also brings with it risks of violence and instability” says Alan Keenan, the organisation’s senior analyst on Sri Lanka.

“The tighter the race, the more violent it threatens to be.”

The report warns that extra-constitutional measures, including the use of the military, under the direct control of the president and his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, are possible if Sirisena’s challenge to President Rajapaksa looks likely to be successful.

The ICG in the report highlights the absence of Tamil rights issues and power sharing from the opposition platform and says that it is uncertain whether Tamils will be motivated to vote for the “avowedly Sinhala-Buddhist” candidate, Maithripala Sirisena.

Core questions around national identity, including devolution, accountability and the equal status of Tamils and Muslims will remain contentious whichever candidate wins the election, the report says.

The University of Jaffna Teachers' Association held a protest against the politicisation of university affairs by the Sri Lankan government, reports Uthayan.

Lecturers gathered at the university entrance on Tuesday, demanding that the government cease from interfering in university affairs.

The opposition United National Party's National (UNP) Youth Front President and Parliamentarian Ruwan Wijewardene said that all weaponry used by the Sri Lankan government in order to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, was bought whilst the UNP was in power.

Speaking in Colombo, Wijewardene said that the UNP, which was last in government from 2001 until 2004, had acquired all of the arms and ammunition used during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009.

Photograph Nilshan Fonseka

Launching his presidential campaign, Mahinda Rajapaksa featured on the front pages of an array of Sri Lankan newspapers in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Whilst the Tamil newspapers celebrated apparent reconciliation and 'development' in the North-East, with a photograph of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the opening of the Yaal Devi train and the caption - 'Do you remember this historic day?' , the Sinhala language newspapers exalted the war victory over the Tamil armed resistance group, the LTTE.

Carrying headlines about the Sri Lankan military's victory over the LTTE, such as 'Nation rescued from terrorists' and 'Final bit of land rescued from LTTE', the Sinhala language newspapers featured a photograph of Rajapaksa knelt down worshiping the 'motherland', following his arrival back to Sri Lanka a day before he declared victory on May 19th.

TCSF convenor - Bishop of Mannar, Dr. Rayappu Joseph

A network of Tamil civil society activists based in the North-East, have formally launched a collective organisation - the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF).

The TCSF, which includes over sixty activists at present, held its first Annual General Meeting on November 15.

"The primary objective of the forum is to create, provide space and act as a medium for articulation and expression of the views of its membership on contemporary issues of social, political, economic and cultural interests to the Tamil people living in the island of Sri Lanka," the TCSF said.