The pro – LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Wednesday formally announced its decision to back the candidature of the commander turned politician and common opposition consensus nominee, Sarath Fonseka.<br/><br/>Speaking at a press conference, TNA leader R. Sampanthan said that his party has come to this conclusion after holding talks with both the retired General and the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is seeking a second term two ahead of his first stint. He said that his party could not support Mr. Rajapaksa in the light of his `past performance’ and called upon the Tamil community to vote in favour of the former Army Chief.<br/><br/>Mr Sampanthan told reporters that Fonseka understands the need for a political solution to the ethnic issue and the resultant thirty year old conflict far better than President Rajapaksa. He also underlined the fact that the General has now quit the uniform and so the TNA was not supporting a ‘military official’ for the Presidency.<br/>Gen (retd) Fonseka on Tuesday had handed over to Mr Sampanthan a signed document pledging address the concerns of the Alliance on the high security zones as well as various issues related to the welfare of the nearly 3 lakh war displaced.<br/><br/>The TNA leader also said that his party, in the course of negotiations with the President Rajapaksa, had impressed upon the need to remove all the high security zones (HSZ) in the north but did not receive a favorable response to that point.<br/><br/>Political and diplomatic observers are watching with keen interest the latest developments after the TNA has decided to support the former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka. Since both Mr Rajapaksa and Fonseka represent the majority Sinhalese community and are credited for the successful military campaign against the LTTE, the vote of Tamils and Muslims could prove to be a deciding factor in the outcome of the Presidential election. Therein lays the significance of the TNA’s decision to join hands with the rest of the opposition in their bid to oust Mr Rajapaksa.<br/><br/>Hours after the post-Prabhakaran Tamil National Alliance (TNA) formally announced its decision to back the candidature of Fonseka; a senior Minister in the Rajapaksa Government took exception to what he termed as secret pact between the two and maintained that it was against the national interest.<br/><br/>Speaking at a press conference, TNA leader R. Sampanthan said that his party could not support Mr. Rajapaksa in the light of his ‘past performance’ and called upon the Tamil community to vote in favour of the former Army Chief.<br/><br/>Mr Sampanthan told reporters that Fonseka understands the need for a political solution to the thirty year old ethnic conflict and they have no issues with the military background of Sarath Fonseka. The retired General is scheduled to be release the much awaited election manifesto on Thursday.