In a media statement released on October 1, the Catholic Diocesan Priests Union of Jaffna called for a new change in the fielding of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election scheduled for November 14.
The statement released in Tamil read;
Tamil people and political parties!
We are at a juncture, where we as a race must take a great historical leap. The upcoming parliamentary elections against the backdrop of the recent presidential election have fueled expectations, among the Tamil people, for a major change.
Confusion and mental agony persist among the Tamil people due to various factors such as the break-up trends in the contemporary political parties, intra-party conflicts and obvious political ambiguity. If this situation continues, there is an unfortunate possibility, that we will not be able to retain a significant number of the current Tamil parliamentary representatives in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
In the aftermath of the "Anura Wave" It can be observed that 'Maatram' is chanted as a magic word by many. Therefore, at this historical turning point, it is our moral and historical duty to devise new strategies.
Our political parties must come together and decide on new directions for future politicking, so that the historical slippage does not happen again.
History has now stopped us at a place where we have to move beyond the divisions, differences, caste, religion and regionalism that exist among us.
A great proposal for a major change would be, the traditional political leadership giving way to the new political trend, absorb and lead dedicated and honest uncorrupted youth.
While going beyond centrist politics to identify candidates by incorporating the opinions of village level social organizations, it is also necessary to consider gender equality and women's representation as the best move
Let us realize that it is our historical duty to show the right directions to the Tamil race which has stumbled without knowing its direction.
At a time when the danger of losing our parliamentary representation due to short-sighted political confusion is imminent, the political expectations of the Tamil people for a corruption-free and honest political trend is calling for a 'new change'.
We also emphasize that the Tamil race can stand up as a bargaining power for the rights of its existence only if it takes a new political move with honest political clarity and stands up as a nation.