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Sri Lanka's ruling coalition wins in volatile eastern province
Sri Lanka's ruling party won control of the country's tense Eastern Province yesterday following an election that monitors said was marred by voter intimidation and fraud.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:52 May 11, 2008
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Tamil residents who have lost their houses during the civil war gather around a radio to listen to final results of the provincial council elections.
Batticaloa: Sri Lanka's ruling party won control of the country's tense Eastern Province on Sunday following an election that monitors said was marred by voter intimidation and fraud.
The election commission said the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance coalition won 52 per cent of the vote, giving it 18 seats - plus two bonus seats given to the winner - on the province's 37-member council.
The opposition United National Party won 42 per cent of the vote and captured 15 seats, while two smaller parties won one seat each, the commission said.
The opposition condemned the results of Saturday's election, saying they were the outcome of an irreparably flawed vote.
"This is a totally distorted mandate that they got. This is obtained by fraud," said Rauff Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, which ran in coalition with the UNP.
Opposition leaders planned to meet in Colombo to decide whether to file a suit to overturn the election, he said.
The government said the provincial election would mark a fresh start for the region less than a year after the military seized control of the area from the Tamil Tiger rebels, who ruled the area for 13 years.
It was also intended to give a degree of self-rule to the region - divided among Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils - and to counter rebel demands for an independent state, even as a civil war with the separatists rages on in the north.
The ruling party ran in a coalition with a breakaway rebel faction known as the TMVP, which has been accused of campaigning with weapons and threatening voters and opposition candidates.
About 60 per cent of the province's nearly 1 million registered voters cast ballots, according to the election commission, a turnout that opposition officials and election monitors said was markedly low for a vote of such importance.
Independent monitors said the election went smoothly in some areas, but quickly unravelled in others.
Deaths
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a rebel arms storage base, while artillery duels between security forces and Tiger rebels killed 29, the defence ministry said yesterday.
Airforce fighter jets bombed a rebel ammunition storage dump in guerrilla-controlled Mullaittvu area on Saturday, the military said, adding that "pilots confirmed sporadic explosions" after the raid.
No comment
Government troops also traded fire with Tiger rebels across the Vavuniya, Mannar and Wanni regions, killing 29 guerrillas on Saturday, the statement said, placing troop casualties at two soldiers injured.
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who have been locked in armed combat with the Sinhalese dominated government for a separate state for minority Tamils.
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