Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam: Difference between revisions

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Although it no longer controls Jaffna, these structures continue to form the basis on which it runs the areas it does control. The LTTE's administrative agencies are integrated into the organisation's overall [[chain of command]]. The LTTE's quasi-government is run on socialist principles. For example, all litigants before a civil court are required to pay a fine for failing to settle their dispute amicably. In recent years, the LTTE has sought wider recognition for its administrative organs. After the [[Boxing Day tsunami]], it has sought to ensure that aid to the areas under its control is routed through its own administrative agencies. It entered into an agreement, called the P-TOMS, with the government of Sri Lankan president [[Chandrika Kumaratunga]] that recognised this principle to some extent. The agreement was bitterly opposed by hardliners in the Sri Lankan government and never saw implementation.
 
===Political===
The LTTE also has a political wing, but despite the ceasefire it has not tried to formally create a political party. Instead, in the [[Sri Lankan legislative election, 2004|2004 parliamentary elections]], it openly supported the [[Tamil National Alliance]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3585143.stm | title= Tamil Tigers seek voters' support | author = Frances Harrison |date= March 31, 2004| publisher =BBC News}}</ref> (also called Thamizh Arasu Katchi or Federal Party), which won over 90% of votes in the [[electoral district]] of [[Jaffna]], in the [[Northern Province, Sri Lanka|Northern Province]].
 
The LTTE's commitment to multi-party democracy has also been questioned. In an interview in 1986, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE, said that [[Tamil Eelam]] would be a one-party state rather than a multi-party democracy, because that would help it develop faster (Hellmann-Rajanayagam 1994, 183). He has not repeated this proposal, and the LTTE's main ideologue, [[Anton Balasingham]], publicly repudiated this position in [[1992]], stating that it was irrelevant after the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]]. However, the LTTE's critics state that it indicates their way of thinking, and point out that it has not organised, and shows no signs of organising, local elections in the areas it controls. The LTTE's supporters say that conditions make elections impossible, but that they will be held once Tamil Eelam is fully independent.