The Socialist Equality Party, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), has launched a new web site: http://www.socialequality.com/srilanka/index.shtml. For the first time, the Trotskyist movement’s analysis will be available on the one site in the island’s three main languages—English, Sinhala and Tamil.

From today, the web site will provide full coverage of the campaign being conducted by the SEP and its candidate, SEP general secretary Wije Dias, for the January 26 presidential elections. All the party’s policy statements, commentary and reportage of Dias’s campaign, as well as details and coverage of the SEP’s election meetings across the country will be accessible to a national and international audience at a single on-line location.

The SEP is the only party presenting a socialist alternative for the working people in the presidential election, which is being held at a critical point of the political and economic crisis, following the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island’s decades-long civil war.

The incumbent president, Mahinda Rajapakse, and the opposition parties’ candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, are rival militarist candidates. Both are responsible for the criminal war and the atrocities and human rights abuses committed against Tamil civilians. They have no fundamental programmatic differences.

Rajapakse called the election two years early, to strengthen his hand in launching an “economic war” on the working class and its living standards. A significant section of the ruling elite, however, considers General Fonseka a stronger figure to impose that austerity agenda.

The SEP candidate, Wije Dias, is fighting for the only solution for working people: a workers’ and farmers’ government in the form of a socialist republic of Sri Lanka and Eelam, as part of a socialist federation of South Asia and internationally.

After the presidential election, the new web site will continue to develop and present the daily Marxist analysis provided by the ICFI through the World Socialist Web Site in three languages simultaneously.

To provide easier access for all, the web site uses Unicode technology. Initially, some readers may need to upgrade their systems to view Sinhala or Tamil text. This can be done easily by following the instructions at:

Sinhala: http://www.siyabas.lk/sinhala_how_to_install.html

Tamil: http://www.siyabas.lk/tamil_how_to_install_in_english.html

The SEP invites workers, youth and intellectuals to visit the new site to find out more about Wije Dias’s campaign and to acquaint themselves with our party’s commentary and principles.