Further political change occurred when the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka declared President Kumaratunga's second and final term over and ordered her to hold fresh presidential elections. The main candidates for the election, which was held in November, were UNF candidate former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, who advocated the reopening of talks with the LTTE, and the UPFA candidate Prime Minister Rajapaksa, who called for a tougher line against the LTTE and a renegotiation of the cease-fire. The LTTE openly called for a boycott of the election by Tamils. Many of them were expected to vote for Wickremasinghe, and the loss of their votes proved fatal to his chances, as Rajapakse achieved a narrow victory. Following the election, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran stated in his annual address that the Tigers would "renew their struggle" in 2006 if the government did not take serious moves toward peace.