The Tamil People's National Alliance (

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

TPNA; ), also known as the Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani (

TMTK), is a

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

that represents the country's

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

ethnic minority The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

. 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 expres ...

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 (TNA; ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu'') was a political alliance in Sri Lanka which represented the Sri Lankan Tamil minority of the country. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate T ...

. 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 ha ...

as registered political party with the fish as its

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

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 2 ...

members of the

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

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

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

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General 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, Su ...

(EPRLF), led by former MP

Suresh Premachandran Arumugam Kandaiah Premachandran (; born 8 November 1957; commonly known as Suresh Premachandran) is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and former Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Li ...

* Eelam Tamil Self Rule Party (Eela Thamilar Suyatchchi Kazhagam, ETSK), led by provincial minister

Ananthi Sasitharan Ananthi Sasitharan (; born 10 September 1971 ) is a Sri Lankan Tamil activist, politician and provincial minister. She is the wife of Velayutham Sasitharan (alias Elilan), the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's political head for Trincomal ...

* Tamil National Party (Thamizh Thesiya Katchi, TTK), led by former MPs M. K. Shivajilingam and N. Srikantha * Tamil People's Alliance (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 ter ...

C. V. Vigneswaran 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 written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

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.

Electoral history

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