The Tamil National Alliance ( ISO 15919: tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil minority. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate Tamil nationalist parties and former militant groups. The alliance originally supported self-determination in an autonomous state (Tamil Eelam) for the island's Tamils. It supported negotiations with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to resolve the civil war in Sri Lanka. The TNA was considered a political proxy of the LTTE which selected some of its candidates even though its leadership maintains it never supported the LTTE and merely negotiated with the LTTE just as the Government did. Since the end of the civil war and the defeat of the LTTE the TNA has dropped the demand for an independent state, saying that it is ready to accept regional self-rule. The TNA and its supporters have been subject to numerous attacks during its existence and three of its sitting Members of Parliament have been assassinated, allegedly by government backed rival groups. The TNA currently consists of four parties: Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. The TNA currently has 10 members in the national parliament. It controls the provincial government in the Northern Province and is part of the provincial government in the Eastern Province. It also controls 33 local authorities in the north and east. The leader of the alliance, R. Sampanthan, served as the leader of the opposition from September 2015 to December 2018. History The TNA was formed in October 2001 to contest the 2001 parliamentary election on a common platform. On 20 October 2001 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). At the 2001 parliamentary election the TNA, contesting under the name and symbol of the TULF, received 348,164 votes (3.89%) and won 15 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament. Soon after its formation the TNA began to make a more pro-LTTE stance, supporting their "freedom struggle" and recognising them as the sole representative of the Sri Lankan Tamils. This caused a split within the TULF. Some members of the TULF, led by its president V. Anandasangaree, were opposed to