The Tamil People's National Alliance (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

TPNA; ta, தமிழ் மக்கள் தேசிய கூட்டணி, translit=Tamiḻ Makkaḷ Tēciya Kūṭṭaṇi), also known as the Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani (

TMTK), is a political alliance in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

. It was formed in February 2020 by a group of

Tamil nationalist Tamil nationalism is the ideology which asserts that the Tamil people constitute a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Tamil people. Tamil nationalism is primarily a secular nationalism, that focus on language and homeland. It expresses ...

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

after they broke away from the

Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lan ...

. The alliance is recognised by the

Election Commission of Sri Lanka The Election Commission of Sri Lanka is the constitutional authority responsible for administering and overseeing all elections in Sri Lanka, including the Presidential, Parliamentary, Provincial and Local Authority elections. Sri Lanka has had ...

as registered political party with the fish as its

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

History

On 9 February 2020 four parties, consisting of

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

members of the

(TNA), signed a memorandum of understanding at the Tilko Hotel in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

to form the Tamil People's National Alliance (Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani) to contest the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. The four parties were: *

Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group. Militant separatists The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, S ...

(EPRLF), led by former MP Suresh Premachandran * Eelam Tamil Self Rule Party (Eela Thamilar Suyatchchi Kazhagam, ETSK), led by provincial minister

Ananthi Sasitharan Ananthi Sasitharan ( ta, அனந்தி சசிதரன், translit=Aṉanti Cacitaraṉ; born 10 September 1971 ) is a Sri Lankan Tamil activist, politician and provincial minister. She is the wife of Velayutham Sasitharan (alias Elilan ...

* Tamil National Party (Thamizh Thesiya Katchi, TTK), led by former MPs M. K. Shivajilingam and

N. Srikantha Kanthar Nallathamby Srikantha is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and former Member of Parliament. Career Srikantha is an attorney-at-law. He is a member of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and entered politics in the mid 1980s. S ...

Tamil People's Alliance Tamil People's Council is a diverse forum consisting of academics, religious leaders, members from the Civil society and political parties. It has been formed to promote Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils ...

(Thamizh Makkal Kootani, TMK), led by former

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

C. V. Vigneswaran Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Vigneswaran, President's Counsel, PC ( ta, கனகசபாபதி விசுவலிங்கம் விக்னேஸ்வரன், translit=Kaṉakacapāpati Vicuvaliṅkam Vikṉēsvaraṉ; si, ක� ...

The TPNA claimed that it would give alternative leadership for the Tamil people as the TNA, which had dominated Tamil politics since its formation in 2001, had moved away from its

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

and had failed to deliver on the pledges made to the Tamil people of north-eastern Sri Lanka. Vigneswaran's is the alliance's leader while Premachandran is president and Sivasakthy Ananthan is general-secretary. The alliance has an eleven-member governing council chaired by Vigneswaran - six from the TMK, two each from the EPRLF and TTK and one from the ETSK.

Election results

2020 Parliamentary General Election

References

External links

{{Sri Lankan Tamil people 2020 establishments in Sri Lanka Organisations based in Northern Province, Sri Lanka Political parties established in 2020 Political party alliances in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist parties