Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday promised economic reform and a tough line in peace talks with the Tamil Tigers if elected president. Unveiling his manifesto ahead of the November 17 election, Rajapakse also promised to foster local business and provide jobs for tens of thousands of people displaced by Asia’s tsunami and two decades of civil war. Left-of-centre Rajapakse will go head-to-head with predecessor and main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe next month. Like Rajapakse, Wickremesinghe has promised pro- poor subsidies and vowed to build a political consensus to reach a deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).But Rajapakse, who has wide grass roots support among the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, has vowed an approach to the LTTE that rules out the devolution of power that the Tigers are demanding to seal an end to war. “I will not be held prisoner by concepts such as traditional homelands or the right to self-determination,” he said in his manifesto. Analysts say the stand the two leading candidates are taking on peace talks is the axis of the election. “This is the fundamental difference between the two camps,” said Prof. Emeritus Gerald Peiris of the University of Peradeniya. “(Rajapakse’s) is a harder line on the peace question.” —Reuters
