Arumugam Kandaiah Premachandran (; born 8 November 1957; commonly known as Suresh Premachandran) is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and former Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Early life

Premachandran was born on 8 November 1957, the son of a farmer. He was educated at Uruthirapuram Maha Vidyalayam and Senguntha Hindu College. He then joined Waterloo College, London and

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...

where he studied political science. Premachandran got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism movement whilst at school and in 1976, whilst in London, he joined the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). He received military training from the Palestinians in Lebanon. In 1979 K. Pathmanabha left EROS to form the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and Premachandran joined him. He took on the

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

Suresh and was a member of the EPRLF's central committee and

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

. Premachandran took on the leadership of EPRLF following the assassination of Pathmanabha by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on 19 June 1990.

Career

Premachandran was one of the ENDLF/EPRLF/ TELO/ TULF alliance's candidates in Jaffna District at the 1989 parliamentary election. He was elected and entered

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. On 20 October 2001 the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, EPRLF, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and Tamil United Liberation Front formed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). He contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District but failed to get elected. Premachandran contested the 2004 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. He was re-elected at the 2010 parliamentary election. He failed to get re-elected at the 2015 parliamentary election after coming seventh amongst the TNA candidates.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Premachandran, Suresh 1957 births Living people Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front militants Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front politicians Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students militants Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Hindus Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil rebels Sri Lankan Tamil people Tamil National Alliance politicians