{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Profile of president Kumaratunga ahead of parliamentary elections' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bb24d8eafeecae122d81' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bb24d8eafeecae122d81' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nProfile of president Kumaratunga ahead of parliamentary elections\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eFeb 26 , 2004 - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka   1. Wide shot soldier guarding election rally of United People's Freedom Alliance, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga2. Mid shot crowd3. Various of President Kumaratunga giving speech at...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eFeb 26 , 2004 - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka   \u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide shot soldier guarding election rally of United People's Freedom Alliance, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga\u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid shot crowd\u003cbr/\u003e3. Various of President Kumaratunga giving speech at rally\u003cbr/\u003e4. Supporters waving flags and cheering\u003cbr/\u003e5. Mid shot Kumaratunga with party colleague on podium\u003cbr/\u003e6. Wide shot crowd\u003cbr/\u003eNov 19, 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka \u003cbr/\u003e7. Various of lawmakers inside Sri Lankan parliament\u003cbr/\u003e8. Mid shot PM Ranil Wickremesinghe inside parliament\u003cbr/\u003eOctober 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka\u003cbr/\u003e9. Wide shot rally by supporters of President Kumaratunga's alliance\u003cbr/\u003e10. Mid shot crowd clapping with hands raised up\u003cbr/\u003e11. Pan over crowd clapping\u003cbr/\u003eNov 7, 2003 , Colombo , Sri Lanka\u003cbr/\u003e12. Publicity van with speakers and flags\u003cbr/\u003e13. Various of Buddhist monks marching\u003cbr/\u003e14. Various of supporters of Nationalist Patriotic Movement marching holding Sri Lankan Flags\u003cbr/\u003eMarch 20, 2004 , New Delhi, India\u003cbr/\u003e15. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. S.D.Muni, School of International Studies, Jawahar lal Nehru University:\u003cbr/\u003e\"It is true that she has taken a gamble...she keeps on reiterating that it is an election forced on her, that she has not really opted for. The problem is that Sri Lankan...the problem lies with Sri Lankan constitution.The constitution which was brought in by the UNP (United National Party) , J.R.Jayawardhane and others, never visualised a situation where President would be from one party and parliament would belong to another party. The problem lies in there. I think she worked out a sort of very uneasy cohabitation for nearly two years or little over one year - and the whole damn thing broke down on the question of certain ministries and all that.\"\u003cbr/\u003eFeb 4 , 2004 , Colombo , Sri Lanka\u003cbr/\u003e16. President Kumaratunga arriving for Independence day parade, being greeted by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe\u003cbr/\u003e17. Wide shot Independence day event\u003cbr/\u003e18. Mid shot Kumaratunga talking to Wickremesinghe\u003cbr/\u003e19. Military tanks at parade\u003cbr/\u003e20. Kumaratunga taking salute\u003cbr/\u003e21. Sri Lankan soldiers marching\u003cbr/\u003e22. SOUNDBITE (Sinhalese) Chandrika Kumaratunga , Sri Lankan President:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I stretch out my hand to all our Tamil brothers and sisters who believed, mistakenly, in the benevolence of Mr Prabhakaran, to reject the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and the violence and hatred they stand for. You must see the light of peace. I urge you to persuade with every conceivable argument anyone who is a member or a supporter of the LTTE to renounce violence and join us in establishing peace.\"    \u003cbr/\u003eNov 12 , 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka\u003cbr/\u003e23.Kumarangatunga meeting Norwegian delegation led by deputy foreign minister of Norway Vidar Helgesen\u003cbr/\u003e24. Cutaway cameras\u003cbr/\u003e25. Kumaratunga shaking hands with Helgesen\u003cbr/\u003eJan 2004 , Colombo, Sri Lanka\u003cbr/\u003e26. Top shot angle Colombo city\u003cbr/\u003e27. Mid shot soldier, sea in the background\u003cbr/\u003eWhen Sri Lanka goes to polls on April 2 , the vote is expected to be a mandate on the tropical island's quest for peace after two decades of\u003cbr/\u003eviolent civil war.\u003cbr/\u003eBut it will also be a verdict on the political future of one of Sri Lanka's most controversial leaders - President Chandrika Kumaratunga.\u003cbr/\u003eHer dynastic credentials are impeccable - both her parents had been prime ministers of Sri Lanka - and her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike,\u003cbr/\u003ewas the world's first woman prime minister.\u003cbr/\u003eBut in these elections she faces one of the toughest challenges to her political career since she came to power as president of Sri Lanka in\u003cbr/\u003eAt the heart of Sri lanka's current political turmoil , lies the bitter stand-off between Kumaratunga and her main opponent Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.\u003cbr/\u003eLaunching her party's election campaign in a heavily guarded soccer stadium in the 3rd Century Buddhist city of Anuradhapura , Kumaratunga\u003cbr/\u003etold her supporters to give her party a clear mandate to decide the future of Sri Lanka.\u003cbr/\u003eLiberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers) rebels have in the past staged suicide attacks on election rallies and Kumaratunga was blinded in one eye in one such attack in 1999.\u003cbr/\u003eKumaratunga has managed to enlist the support of the country's labour union-based Marxist political party for her coalition, boosting\u003cbr/\u003eits chances of success over Wickremesinghe's coalition.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Marxist Peoples' Liberation Front, or JVP, was the third largest party in the dissolved Parliament and is opposed to any concessions to\u003cbr/\u003ethe rebels.\u003cbr/\u003eKumaratunga's freedom alliance has also won support from a nationalist group -Patriotic National Movement - an alliance of several\u003cbr/\u003esmaller political parties and Buddhist monks .\u003cbr/\u003eThe group, mostly made up of majority Sinhalese, is opposed to giving concessions to the Tamil Tigers, who want greater autonomy for the country's 3.2 million Tamil minority.\u003cbr/\u003eKumaratunga was elected separately in 1999 and was forced to share governing responsibilities with Wickremesinghe when he defeated Kumaratunga's party in the 2001 Parliamentary election.\u003cbr/\u003eWhile the president is not a candidate in the election, and will remain in power until 2005 regardless of its outcome, each side is hoping a parliamentary majority will give them more political power to set the tone for the negotiations.       \u003cbr/\u003eBut that doesn't appear likely.\u003cbr/\u003eAnalysts and opinion polls indicate that neither of the two parties will win a majority of the 225 parliamentary seats, making it necessary for them to rely on minority parties to form a coalition government.\u003cbr/\u003eKumaratunga began negotiations with the rebels on her first election in 1994 but favoured military action after talks failed.\u003cbr/\u003eShe opposed elements of a cease-fire Wickremesinghe signed with the rebels in February 2002 and in November 2003 took over top ministries,\u003cbr/\u003eincluding the Defence Ministry.\u003cbr/\u003eOn Feb. 7 this year, Kumaratunga dissolved parliament and called elections three years ahead of schedule.\u003cbr/\u003eThe political row has crippled Sri Lanka's peace process. \u003cbr/\u003eKumaratunga says she will negotiate with the Tigers to achieve peace, but on Tuesday toughened her stand against the rebels by blaming the Tigers for a series of recent\u003cbr/\u003epolitical killings..\u003cbr/\u003eThe Tigers have \"started killing all over again,\" President Chandrika Kumaratunga told a crowd of thousands in Kuliyapitiya. \"They have started killing Tamil people. Soon they will start killing us,\" she said, referring to Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority.\u003cbr/\u003eIt will be difficult for her to convince the Tigers to return to the negotiating table given her hardline approach in the past.\u003cbr/\u003eThe president has also expressed displeasure with the Norwegians - who brokered the 2002 ceasefire - and are now the peace monitors. \u003cbr/\u003eMore than 6,000 candidates from 24 political parties and 192 independent groups will be contesting the election which will be fought largely on whether the war that has killed more than 65,000 people, will return.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv 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