At present, the total attention of society is on the propaganda campaigns of the presidential election. Although there are 35 candidates contesting, we see only interventions of the three main candidates. When looking at the campaign rallies of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Democratic National Front (DNF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa, it seems that there is high interest in this presidential election among the common people. n the political aspect, this interest is very important because there was a time in Sri Lanka where the presidential election was like a funeral. It is a well-known fact that the 1989 presidential election was one such disastrous election. On one hand, the political party which was renamed the Patriotic People’s Movement threatened citizens not to vote, while underworld kingpin Soththi Upali, as part of the ruling party at the time, threatened to kill the voters if they didn’t cast their vote. In addition to this were also paramilitary groups who called themselves “yellow cats” and “black cats”. They thought that more weapons were needed to bring about democracy. Looking back at the history of presidential elections of this nature, it is my understanding that it is a positive signal that the situation during the current election is normal. The fact that we are able to hold a peaceful presidential election with the United National Party (UNP) in power, is something that should be celebrated. Manifestos In the meantime, there are also scenarios where some candidates are challenging the other main candidates to face off in a debate. However, for such debates to take place, it is imperative that the policies of the candidates be presented before the public prior to the day. Among the two main candidates, the manifesto of Gotabaya Rajapaksa was released on Friday (25), while it is said that Premadasa’s manifesto will be launched even after the casting of postal votes. No explanation has been presented so far by the UNP for the delay in launching their manifesto. There are more than 500,000 postal votes which will be cast on 30 and 31 October. Hence, it is important that the manifesto is launched before postal voting takes place. Freedom is given to the candidates to present their manifestos at any time they wish, but when it is not made available for the voters who are to cast their postal votes, there is doubt as to whether that voter category is considered as an important segment of the voter base by that candidate – especially as most casting postal votes are public servants. Tamil sentiment Nonetheless, my main focus in this column is about the concerns of the northern voters, which is an important issue that needs to be addressed when candidates present their policy statements. The central point in this week’s column is the demands presented by the Tamil parties to the presidential candidates. The Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Allicance (TNA), which is an alliance of key political parties in the North, presented these conditions stating their stand in supporting a candidate who enters an agreement with them. Accordingly, only the candidate who accepts the 13 conditions presented by them will be eligible for their support and they will rally behind that particular candidate to grant access to their voter base in the North. Some of the conditions among their 13 demands have a direct impact on national security while certain other conditions are linked to the economy and public administration matters. Considering the gravity of these conditions and the possible negative impact they can have on key policy matters such as national security, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had clearly stated that he will not accept such conditions under any circumstances. However, Premadasa’s standing with regard to the Tamil parties’ demands is not clear as he has not clearly rejected them. The demands The first among the 13 demands is that the North and East must be merged into one province as earlier. This, in fact, is a complicated and problematic proposal. Their proposal basically claims that self-autonomy for Tamils should be established in the North and East after the proposed merger of the two provinces. The merging of the North and East is a proposal which was first presented in the Wadukkodai Resolution of 1976 and it got partially approved with the enactment of 13th Amendment to the Constitution. In fact, there is no historic basis for this idea of merging the two provinces. Until the time Sri Lanka became a colony of Great Britain, the Eastern Province was a part of the Kandyan Kingdom. With the introduction of the provincial council system in 1987, the two provinces were subjected to a temporary merger and both the Sinhala and Muslim communities residing in the Eastern Province vehemently objected to it. The UNP Government in power during that time conveniently overlooked this objection and carried out the merger; in 2008, it was de-merged after the matter was taken to Supreme Court. Now, the same demand has resurfaced through these Tamil parties. If any candidate or party agrees to this condition, they are actually sabotaging the rights of the people of the Eastern Province. Citizens must be vigilant in this context in order to find out if there is a party or a candidate who will align themselves with this condition while pretending to be a saviour of the Muslims. Another critical condition brought in by the Tamil parties is the proposal requesting the release of land under the Archaeological and Forest Conservation Departments. In addition to this, they have included a condition stating that the Sinhalese “colonisation” in the Mahaweli zones developed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces must stop. On top of this, they have also proposed that Sinhalese settlements relocated to Vanni from Moragahakanda be removed. In my point of view, the Tamil parties’ ulterior motive in proposing such extremist demands is to prepare the ground for another ethnic issue. It is obvious that this was the right time for them to put forward such hideous demands as some candidates cannot survive without the minority vote from the Northern Province. When there are candidates who solely depend on the approximately 500,000 votes from the North, Tamil political parties seem to be trying to take advantage of the situation. Any citizen who is genuinely concerned about independence, sovereignty, and co-existence among ethnicities must vote against any candidate who is indirectly or directly supporting these demands in order to attract the votes from the North. As citizens, we should stand in solidarity to defeat any effort that could harm the sovereignty of our country. (The writer is a senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya)