The question of one-person dominated leadership or collective leadership was not at all taken for voting in the TGTE Constitutional Assembly meeting held in New York Thursday and Friday, TGTE members told TamilNet. The voting took place only on the question of whether there should be three regional deputies or not. 42 voted in favour of having deputies and 41 voted against it. However, there was another voting to decide whether the ‘prime minister’ as ‘supreme leader’ nominating the three deputies or whether they should be elected by the Assembly. In this voting, 46 favoured the ‘prime minister’ to nominate the deputies and 43 voted against it. At a third voting, on the question of ‘prime minister’ appointing 7 cabinet ministers, there was no stiff opposition as 43 voted in favour, 28 opposed and 10 from Europe abstained in protest.
The proceedings at New York paved way for a single ‘prime minister’ to dominate the whole structure of the TGTE.
46 out of 98 elected for the 135-member house participated the proceedings at New York in person.
Those who didn’t come directly to New York were permitted to cast their votes from London (10 members) and Paris (17 members). Two members participated through Skype. 14 members deputed their votes and 9 members didn’t participate in the voting.
115 members were to be elected and 20 nominated to the Constitutional Assembly according to Advisory Panel Report.
Elections were announced for 112 constituencies and out of them electoral disputes continue to this date in announcing the results in 14 constituencies.
Among the 14 constituencies, potential candidates from UK, France, Germany and Australia would have made an impact in the proceedings of the TGTE had the disputes been resolved, observers of the TGTE process in Europe said.
Certain ‘locks’ that existed in the draft of the constitution to ensure participatory decision-making have been removed at New York sitting, according to a member of the Constitution Committee.
On the second day, some members walked out following controversy over proxy voting.
The TGTE programme was set on motion in a meeting convened by Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP) in Kuala Lumpur in June 2009. Mr. Pathmanathan named Mr. V. Rudrakumaran as the coordinator of the formation process. Assisting him was a task group consisting of formation and advisory committees.
Opinion seems to differ in handling the domestic and international scenario.
While sections of Eezham Tamils think that one-person domination of the TGTE with some ‘power background’, conducive for maneuverings, is the answer to face Rajpaksa-regime model and the international victimization of Eezham Tamils, there are views that Eezham Tamils who have reached the rock-bottom are now in a better position to think of fresh and alternative ways of designing their polity through TGTE.
The Transnational concept shouldn’t be reduced to informal government-in-exile in the backyard of any power, that too without any assurance of recognition, is the concern of the latter shade of opinion.
Following is the official statement released by the TGTE on Saturday:
PDF: TGTE 2nd Sitting: Press Statement
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )