2010 Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam election

In 2010 elections were held in Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora communities to elect members to the first Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam.

Background

One of the main recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam was that a Transnational Constituent Assembly be formed consisting of 135 members.^[1] Of these, 115 would be elected and the remaining 20 shall consist of delegates selected by the elected assembly to represent regions where elections aren't feasible.

The distribution of the 115 elected representatives is: Australia 10; Benelux 3; Canada 25; Denmark 3; Finland 1; France 10; Germany 10; Ireland 1; Italy 3; New Zealand 2; Norway 3; South Africa 3; Sweden 1; Switzerland 10; UK 20; and USA 10.

The distribution of the 20 appointed delegates is: Caribbean & South America 1; India 5; Malaysia 3; Mauritius 1; Middle East 2; Oceania 1; Rest of Africa 1; Rest of Asia 1; Rest of Europe 1; Singapore 2; and South Africa 2.

Working groups were established in countries with significant diaspora communities to organise elections.

Results

Australia

Election is due to held on 22 May 2010 to elect four members in one constituency (NSW). Five members from three constituencies have already been elected unopposed:^[2]

Constituency 1 (New South Wales)

Candidate	Votes	%
Sivasambu Brabaakaran
Dharshan Gunasingam
Ramalingam Karunanithy
Balasingham Prabhakaran
Sinnapu Victor Rajakulendran
Kulasegaram Sanchayan
Seran Sribalan
Total

Constituency 2 (Victoria)

Candidate	Votes
Janani Balachandran	U/C*	Elected
Dominic Savio Santhiapillai	U/C*	Elected
Thuraisingam Shanmugananthakumar	U/C*	Elected

Constituency 4 (Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania)

Candidate	Votes	%
Apiramy Visuvanathan	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 5 (Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia)

Canada

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in Canada to elect 25 members across five districts:^[3]^[4]^[5]

District 1 (Toronto GTA & Vicinities)

Candidate	Votes	%
Tharani Prapaharan	4,967	15.50%	Elected
Thiru S. Thiruchelvam	4,936	15.40%	Elected
M. K. Eelaventhan	4,161	12.98%	Elected
Pon Balarajan	3,777	11.79%	Elected
Joe Antony	3,388	10.57%	Elected
Piraba Nalliah	3,175	9.91%
Deva Sabapathy	2,754	8.59%
Sri Bavan Sri-Skanda-Rajah	2,691	8.40%
Nimal Vinayagamoorthy	2,197	6.86%
Total	32,046	100.00%
Valid Votes	7,004
Rejected Votes	2
Total Polled	7,006

District 2 (Eastern Ontario)

Candidate	Votes	%
Vanitha Rajendram	8,451	15.07%	Elected
Esan Kulasekaram	7,810	13.92%	Elected
Waran Vaithilingam	6,523	11.63%	Elected
Mariampillai Anjalo Yogendran	6,478	11.55%	Elected
Suresh Ratnabalan	6,109	10.89%	Elected
Selvanayaki Sridas	4,632	8.26%
Vin Mahalingam	3,845	6.85%
R. Rajkumar Nada	3,692	6.58%
Jeyabalan Alagaratnam	3,594	6.41%
Srisangar (Shean) Sinnarajah	2,541	4.53%
Henry Kirupairajah	2,420	4.31%
Total	56,095	100.00%
Valid Votes	12,021
Rejected Votes	5
Total Polled	12,026

District 3 (Western Ontario)

Candidate	Votes	%
Iyampillai (Shan) Shanmuganathan	5,049	16.96%	Elected
Suren Mahendran	5,002	16.80%	Elected
Sam Sangarasivam	4,997	16.79%	Elected
Ram Sivalingam	4,993	16.77%	Elected
Balan Ratnarajah	4,844	16.27%	Elected
S. M. Thanapalan Marakandu	2,501	8.40%
Charles Devasagayam	2,382	8.00%
Total	29,768	100.00%
Valid Votes	6,617
Rejected Votes	4
Total Polled	6,621

District 4 (Quebec & Eastern Canada)

Candidate	Votes	%
Luxan Sivapragasapillai	3,221	14.14%	Elected
Maharajah (Nanthan) Nanthakumar	2,818	12.37%	Elected
Niruthan Nagalingam	2,794	12.27%	Elected
Kanthiah Theiventhiran	2,690	11.81%	Elected
Majendran (Indran) Raveendran	2,586	11.35%
Bhuvan-Endra Nadarajah	2,557	11.22%	Elected
Manoharan Majooran	2,435	10.69%
Muthuckumaru Sivananthan	1,886	8.28%
Roy Yarl Vaanan Wignarajah	1,793	7.87%
Total	22,780	100.00%
Valid Votes
Rejected Votes
Total Polled	5,491

District 5 (Western Canada)

Candidate	Votes
Sivasothy Jeyamathy	U/C*	Elected
Nagendra Katpana	U/C*	Elected
Mokanasingham Markandu	U/C*	Elected
Muthukumarasamy Ratna	U/C*	Elected
Sothinathan Sumughan	U/C*	Elected

Denmark

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in Denmark to elect three members:^[6]^[7]

Candidate	1Sjæl land	2 Syddan mark	3 Midt & Nord Jylland	Total Votes	%
Remmon Washington	375	963	1,400	2,738	32.63%	Elected
Sukenthini Nimalanathan	370	943	1,313	2,626	31.30%	Elected
Maheswaran Ponnampalam	338	916	1,296	2,550	30.39%	Elected
Elayaraj Kannan Sithamparanathan	43	122	311	476	5.67%
Total	1,126	2,944	4,320	8,390	100.00%
Valid Votes	385	1,054	1,605	3,044
Rejected Votes	8	25	25	58
Total Polled	393	1,079	1,630	3,102
Eligibile Voters				c6,500
Turnout				c48%

France

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in France to elect 10 members across eight constituencies:^[8]

Constituency 1 (Electoral District 75)

Candidate	Votes	%
Christian Gregory
Rajamalar Gunsegaralingam
Balachandran Sivaguuru
Mahintan Sivasubramaniam

Constituency 2 (Electoral District 93)

Candidate	Votes	%
Rayappu Arulanantham
Collins Mickeal			Elected
Ramesh Pathmanathan
Kirushanthi Sakthithasan			Elected

Constituency 3 (Electoral Districts 78 & 95)

Candidate	Votes	%
Ariyaratnam Kanagasabai
Balasundaram Paramanathan
Sutharsan Sivagurunathan

Constituency 4 (Electoral District 94)

Candidate	Votes	%
Balachandran Nagalingam	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 5 (Electoral District 92)

Candidate	Votes	%
Thiruchchoti Thirukulasingam			Elected
Balakanesan Thamotharampillay

Constituency 6 (Electoral Districts 77 & 91)

Candidate	Votes	%
Subashini Kuruparanathan	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 7 (Northern France)

Candidate	Votes	%
Sasikumar Saravanamuththu	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 8 (Southern France)

Candidate	Votes	%
Krishanth Tharmendran	U/C*		Elected

Germany

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in Germany to elect one member in one constituency:^[9]^[10] Election is due to held on 16 May 2010 to elect seven members in two constituencies.

Constituency 1 (Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen, Thüringen)

Candidate	Votes	%
Vithiya Jeyasangar	441	70.11%	Elected
Vazuki Thangarajah	188	29.89%
Valid Votes	629	100.00%
Rejected Votes	1
Total Polled	630

Constituency 2 (Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein)

Candidate	Votes	%
Rajaratnam Jeyachandran	U/C*		Elected
Renuga Logeswaran	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 3 (Nordrhein-Westfalen)

Candidate	Votes	%
Gratian James Alston\|
Mughunthan Indralingam
Subramaniam Paramananthan
Thaniga Subramaniam
Rasiah Thanabalasundaram
Nadarajah Thiruchelvam
Valid Votes
Rejected Votes
Total Polled

Constituency 4 (Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland)

Candidate	Votes	%
Paramu Ananthasingam
Rajivan Arunasalam
Ananther Boopathy–Balavadivetkaran
Piriyatharsieni Manoharan
Nadarajah Rajendra
Selvaratnam Ratnaroopan
Valid Votes
Rejected Votes
Total Polled

New Zealand

Two members across two electorates were elected unopposed:^[11]

Electorate 1 (Northern - Auckland)

Candidate	Votes	%
Theva Rajan	U/C*		Elected

Electorate 2 (Southern - Wellington)

Candidate	Votes	%
K. S. Naguleswaran	U/C*		Elected

Norway

Election was held on 2 May 2010 across 17 centres in Norway to elect three members on a nationwide constituency:^[12]

Candidate	Votes
Sivakanesan Thillaiampalam	2,449	Elected
Jeyasri Balasubramaniam	2,342	Elected
Murali Sivanandan	2,321	Elected
Others
Total
Voters	3,511
Eligibile Voters	c6,500
Turnout	c54%

Switzerland

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in Switzerland to elect 10 members across seven constituencies:^[13]^[14]

Constituency 1 (Bern, Solothurn)

Candidate	Votes	%
Suganya Puthirasigamani	1,880	30.99%	Elected
Suntharalingam Virakathi	1,846	30.43%	Elected
Thileepan Krishnasamy	1,367	22.54%
Suresh Selvaratnam	973	16.04%
Total	6,066	100.00%

Constituency 2 (Zurich, Schaffhausen, Thurgau)

Candidate	Votes	%
Jeyam Selvarajah	1,058	29.36%	Elected
Thayananth Alvaipillai	854	23.70%	Elected
Sreetharan Ramanathan	645	17.90%
Ilango Visvalingam	530	14.71%
Devarajah Markandu	517	14.35%
Total	3,604	100.00%

Constituency 3 (Basel, Aargau, Jura)

Candidate	Votes	%
Baskaralingam Mahalingam	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 4 (Luzern, Zug, Nidwalden, Uri, Obwalden, Schwyz)

Candidate	Votes	%
Balan Sivapatham	515	44.90%	Elected
Kanapathipillai Uruthiran	412	35.92%
Balachandran Amuthaharan	220	19.18%
Total	1,147	100.00%

Constituency 5 (Vaud, Valais, Genève, Fribourg, Neuchâtel)

Candidate	Votes	%
Sukinthan Murugaiah	U/C*		Elected
Rajinithevi Sinnathamby	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 6 (Graubünden, Glarus, St. Gallen)

Candidate	Votes	%
Srisajeetha Sivarajah	1,002	85.79%	Elected
Sountharajah Muthukumar	166	14.21%
Total	1,168	100.00%

Constituency 7 (Tessin, Ticino)

Candidate	Votes	%
Mahenthirampillai Sellathurai	111	50.92%	Elected
Deivendran Arulanandam	107	49.08%
Total	218	100.00%

United Kingdom

Election was held on 2 May 2010 in the United Kingdom to elect 20 members across five constituencies:^[15]^[16]^[17]

Constituency 1 (North East London)

Candidate	Votes	%
Arththy Arumugam	4,154	16.81%	Elected
Sasithar Maheswaran	3,796	15.37%	Elected
Shanmuganathan Kaviraj	3,758	15.21%	Elected
Selvarajah Sellathurai	2,796	11.32%	Elected
Manivannan Pathmanabhan	2,608	10.56%
Vasuki Muruhathas	2,006	8.12%
Arumugam Kandiah Manoharan	1,956	7.92%
Senthinathan Suntherampillai	990	4.01%
Total	24,705	100.00%

Constituency 2 (South East London)

Candidate	Votes	%
Nicholas Manoranjan	U/C*		Elected
Janarthanan Pulenthiran	U/C*		Elected

Constituency 3 (South West London)

Candidate	Votes	%
David Joseph
Paramasivan Karthikesan
Jeyashanker Murugiah
Namasivayam Sathiyamoorthy
Ruthirapathy Sekar
Vasuky Somaskanda
Vadivelu Surendran
Thanikasalam Thayaparan
Appathurai Vairavamoorthy

Constituency 4 (North West London)

Candidate	Votes	%
Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy	8,357	16.58%	Elected
Deluxon Morris	6,334	12.57%	Elected
Balambigai Murugadas	5,879	11.67%	Elected
Lalithasorubiny Pratheeparaj	5,521	10.96%	Elected
Jeyavani Atchuthan	5,446	10.81%	Elected
Sugirthakalas Gobiratnam	4,959	9.84%
Sugantha Mala Radhakrishnan	3,988	7.91%
Nimalan Seevaratnam	3,678	7.30%
Sockalingam Yogalingam	2,739	5.44%
Sivapoosam Sukumar	1,753	3.48%
Sivasambu Sivarajah	1,741	3.45%
Total	50,395	100.00%

Constituency 5 (Outside London)

Candidate	Votes	%
Vanniyasingam Gunaseelan
Reginald Kingston
Navaratnam Paramakumaran
Logeswaran Sivasubramaiyam
Sinnathurai Sriranjan
Arumugam Vivekanandarajah

United States

Elections were held on 2 May 2010 in the United States to elect 10 members across nine regions, though eight regions were uncontested:^[18]

Region 1 (New England)

Candidate	Votes	%
Suba Suntharalingam	U/C*		Elected

Region 2 (New York)

Candidate	Votes	%
Jeyaprakash Jeyalingam			Elected
Sellathurai K. Dhayaparan
Total

Region 3 (New Jersey)

Candidate	Votes	%
Shan Sundaram	U/C*		Elected

Region 4 (Mid Atlantic)

Candidate	Votes	%
Prabharan Ponnuthurai	U/C*		Elected

Region 5 (South)

Candidate	Votes	%
Ranjan Selva	U/C*		Elected

Region 6 (Mid West)

Candidate	Votes	%
Thave Thavendrarajah	U/C*		Elected

Region 7 (North West)

Candidate	Votes	%
Siva Sangary	U/C*		Elected

Region 8 (South West)

Candidate	Votes	%
Alex Doss	U/C*		Elected

Region 9 (National)

Candidate	Votes	%
Gerard Francis	U/C*		Elected
Visvanathan Rudrakumaran	U/C*		Elected

References

^ "Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam: Final report based on the study by the Advisory Committee" (PDF). Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. 15 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Election of Representatives from Australia to the Constituent Assembly of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam". TGTE Australia. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
^ "Election Results". Committee for the Formation of a Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Canada. Archived from the original on 6 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "31,000 vote in Canadian TGTE elections". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ Reinhart, Anthony (1 May 2010). "Tamils' transnational elections 'an experiment in democracy'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Committee for the formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam". Committee for the formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Eezham Tamils in Denmark elect 3 representatives for TGTE". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Third party required to resolve TGTE election dispute in France". TamilNet. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
^ "Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Germany". Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Germany. Archived from the original on 17 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Germany elects first representative for TGTE". TamilNet. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "TGTE member from New Zealand speaks on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution". TamilNet. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Candidates of common opinion elected in Norway for TGTE". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Country Working Group for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Swiss". Country Working Group for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Swiss. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "TGTE election results for Switzerland announced". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Results - TGTE Election 02-05-2010". Election Commission for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Jeyananthamoorthy tops TGTE list in UK". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
^ "Cancellation tactics make potential candidates withdraw from TGTE elections". TamilNet. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
^ "Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Election Commission of the United States". Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Election Commission of the United States. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[1] "Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam: Final report based on the study by the Advisory Committee" (PDF). Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. 15 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[2] "Election of Representatives from Australia to the Constituent Assembly of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam". TGTE Australia. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.

[3] "Election Results". Committee for the Formation of a Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Canada. Archived from the original on 6 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[4] "31,000 vote in Canadian TGTE elections". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[5] Reinhart, Anthony (1 May 2010). "Tamils' transnational elections 'an experiment in democracy'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[6] "Committee for the formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam". Committee for the formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[7] "Eezham Tamils in Denmark elect 3 representatives for TGTE". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[8] "Third party required to resolve TGTE election dispute in France". TamilNet. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.

[9] "Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Germany". Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Germany. Archived from the original on 17 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[10] "Germany elects first representative for TGTE". TamilNet. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[11] "TGTE member from New Zealand speaks on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution". TamilNet. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[12] "Candidates of common opinion elected in Norway for TGTE". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[13] "Country Working Group for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Swiss". Country Working Group for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Swiss. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[14] "TGTE election results for Switzerland announced". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[15] "Results - TGTE Election 02-05-2010". Election Commission for the Formation of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[16] "Jeyananthamoorthy tops TGTE list in UK". TamilNet. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

[17] "Cancellation tactics make potential candidates withdraw from TGTE elections". TamilNet. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.

[18] "Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Election Commission of the United States". Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam - Election Commission of the United States. Retrieved 9 May 2010.

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