The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) verified an incident of election related violence on Saturday.
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate V Kanagaratnam and his supporters where attacked whilst staying at a residence in Mannar earlier this week. The injured supporters were admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
Kanagaratnam identified one of the attackers as a member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP).
Commenting on the situation the Executive director of CaFFE, Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, said,
“This attack and the expectation of further violence hints that the campaign in Jaffna might take a violent turn as the election draws near. The incident adds to the fear psychosis created among opposition party candidates by being questioned by groups stating that they are from military intelligence.”
The latest news of violence against TNA members comes alongside police arrests of TNA supporters.