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.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.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.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.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.