In a secret ballot of universal suffrage,
conducted by a Norwegian media simultaneously in 14 centres
in the length and breath of the country among Eezham Tamils,
98.95 percent of the voters said that they aspire for the
formation of an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the
North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. The voter turn
out was a high 89.8 percent in the capital city of Oslo and
an average 80 percent for the country, Utrop biweekly that
conducted the ballot said. The ballot gains significance not
only in democratically and concretely revealing what the
Tamils want, but also in telling that the so-called Oslo
Declaration that speaks about internal self-determination is
not up to their expectations, Tamil circles said. A couple
of days before the ballot, Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim
advocated a federal solution to the crisis.
Voters in a long queue at Grorud polling centre in Oslo
The ballot results were announced Monday noon at a press
conference conducted by the Utrop newspaper.
Out of 5,633 votes polled, 5,574 votes were in favour of
Tamil Eelam and 50 votes went against it. 9 votes were
invalid.
The 14 centres, 6 in the major cities and 8 in suburban and
remote towns, where Eezham Tamils live in large numbers,
were accessible to roughly 7,000 eligible voters aged 18 and
above, the multicultural biweekly said.
A chief polling officer, lawyer by profession, handing over
the results to the editor-in-chief of Utrop
Cities and towns of Norway where polling booths were
organised: 1. Oslo (3 centres: Stovner, Grorud & Bryn), 4.
L�renskog, 5. Bergen, 6. Stavanger, 7. Flor�, 8.
Nordfjordeid, 9. �lesund, 10. Molde, 11. Trondheim, 12.
Narvik, 13. B� and 14. Troms�.According to government
statistics, a total of 14,431 Sri Lankans, including Tamils
as well as Sinhalese live in Norway. Out of them, the number
of eligible voters aged 18 and above are 8,797, according to
the Statistics Norway (SSB).
The number of Sinhalese in Norway is very small. But, there
is no way of differentiating their number in the official
statistics. Tamil circles say that there could be roughly
300 eligible Sinhala voters.
The polling centres have covered provinces of 8,267 voters.
However, due to remoteness and transportation difficulties,
the centres were not accessible to all of them, especially
in the provinces. At least around 1,000 eligible voters
might have not found the polling centres easily accessible.
The ballot was on ascertaining the current validity of the
political fundamentals set by the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution
of 1976 that called for the creation of Tamil Eelam. The
Resolution that was declared by all the Tamil Political
parties was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of the
provinces of the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka
in the 1977 general elections.
After 1977, the Tamils were never able to democratically
demonstrate the continued validity of this political will of
theirs, as the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1979, and
later in 1983 the 6th Amendment of the constitution
prevented them from expressing secession.
The present ballot taken in Norway has given a unique
democratic opportunity to Eezham Tamils after 33 years. The
enthusiasm was obvious in the voters who stood in long
queues to vote Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
