30 members elected for Swiss Council of Eezham Tamils

14 of the 22 members elected for the national assembly of Swiss Council of Eezham Tamils (SCET) on Sunday were 2nd generation youths and 8 more members were elected to form Canton based councils in the elections held across the country, said initial reports from the Tamil Elections Switzerland (TES). Two non-Tamils were among the 22 member national council. The polls were organised by second generation Tamil youth and manned by around 70 non-Tamil election officials in 17 booths across the country. The election was conducted in an exemplary way was the remark of Urs Egger, a Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician, according to TES spokesman Thayatharan Deivendran. 41 candidates contested in the elections for the first country council of Eezham Tamils. 

63-year-old Lerch Bernhard from Glarus and 60-year-old Annor Anna from Bern were the non-Tamils elected to the SCET. Six of the elected to the 22-member national council were women.

The polls conducted on Sunday were seen by the FDP politician as an effort towards democratically strengthening the integration of the Tamils in Switzerland.

The SCET would be a benchmark case for the democratic polity of Eezham Tamils in Switzerland in future, Mr. Thayaharan told media, adding that the elected members of the SCET have the tremendous task of uniting and strengthening the Eezham Tamil diaspora.

Some of the Cantons, where only a few Tamil families reside have common representation in the SCET, which follows the federal model of cantons for its structure.

The constitution of the council is based on the democratic mandate given by the diaspora Tamils of Switzerland in a referendum held in January this year by the TES. An overwhelming 99 percent of ballots cast in the referendum, participated by 66 – 70 percent of eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Switzerland, had said ‘yes’ to Tamil Eelam.

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