Incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned that he will not allow anyone to “take the country back” after victory against separatism, in his New Year’s message.

“The separatism that was defeated with great commitment and sacrifice is raising its head again in different forms,” said Rajapaksa, in a statement released on Thursday.

“All those who value national unity and the sovereignty of the country should look far ahead with single-minded determination to protect the nation.”

“In fact this country has been enjoying democratic voting rights many decades before Mr Ban-Ki-moon’s country.”

“My decision is that I will not vote... in the Nothern Provincial Council (NPC) election I campaigned for TNA, on a platform of recognising the Tamil homeland, the Tamil nation and the right to self determination. The people voted for me in support of that.”

“To vote for Maithripala Sirisena, whose stance is against that, is against my conscience. Therefore, I will withhold my vote in this election.”

The common opposition's presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, vowed this week that he would not let the LTTE rise again if he were to win the election and pointed to the presence of the former army general Sarath Fonseka within the opposition coalition as proof of this.

Observers from the Commonwealth will monitor the forthcoming presidential elections in Sri Lanka.

The group of nine monitors, led by former president of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo, was formally invited by elections commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, and will observe both pre-election preparations and the electoral process itself.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma reiterated the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, to which the Commonwealth is a signatory, requesting a transparent, level playing field for the people to exercise their right to vote.

“Genuine democratic elections are an expression of sovereignty, which belongs to the people of a country, the free expression of whose will provides the basis for the authority and legitimacy of government,” he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had “strong expectations” that the Sri Lankan government will ensure “the peaceful and credible conduct” of the presidential election, during a telephone conversation with External Affairs Minister GL Peiris.

The common opposition has accused President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government of colluding with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and pledged to recover the organisation's assets from abroad.

Jathika Hela Urumaya General Secretary Champika Ranawaka, a key member of the opposition coalition the New Democratic Front, said they would arrest and punish all remaining “LTTE terrorists” once they come into power.

Ranawaka said the government maintained links with former LTTE members Kumar Pathmanathan and others, and allowed the Global Tamil Forum and the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam to flourish.