Sri Lanka votes in presidential election

Sri Lankans today voted for a president to shape peace efforts in a country bloodied by more than two decades of civil war and devastated by last year’s tsunami.

The election was staged amid reports that Tamils in the rebel-controlled north-east were being prevented from voting.

At one stronghold of the rebel Tamil Tigers in eastern Sri Lanka, insurgents kept people from crossing over to government territory to cast ballots – a move that could be a deciding factor in the tightly-contested race.

Rebel supporters set fire to discarded tyres and placed them on the road inside their territory in an apparent attempt to block voters from travelling.

“Burning tyres are a signal that we should not go beyond this, we have known this over the years,” said Perinban, 57, a Tamil farmer, referring to the hostilities between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“If I had a chance to vote, I would have voted,” Perinban said. Sri Lankan forces did not interfere as tyres were burning in a rebel-controlled area.

The race pits Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, who has appealed to hard-liners, against dovish opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In the Tamil city of Jaffna, shops were closed and public service transport came to a halt. Those who attempted to reach polling stations were turned back by pro-rebel supporters, while a bus driver who defied the transport ban was assaulted, witnesses said.

One voter, S. Balasubramanium, suffered head injuries when he tried to get into a polling centre at the Ladies' College. It was not clear how he was injured.

Police arrested a pro-rebel supporter as he placed more burning tyres in the area.

However, polling was smooth in other parts of the country and also areas in the north-east not under rebel control.

To avoid a repeat of violence that has marred past votes, police armed with AK-47 assault rifles guarded many of the nearly 10,000 polling stations, and officials said riot police and army reservists were on standby.

For the presidential contenders, solving nearly every issue that faces the country – from aiding tsunami victims to developing the economy – starts with ending the Tigers’ war for autonomy in the Tamil heartland of north-eastern Sri Lanka.

But each has staked out opposite sides of Sri Lanka’s political spectrum in the campaign to replace President Chandrika Kumaratunga, stepping aside after 11 years because of a constitutional two-term limit.

Rajapakse, who turns 60 the day after the vote has pledged to review the stalled peace process and not share political power or tsunami aid with the Tigers.

He insists his hard-line can lead to peace, a tough stand that has won him wide support among Sri Lanka’s predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

“I am not a candidate for war and I will discuss the peace process with the LTTE, but it has to be an honourable peace,” he said after casting his ballot in his hometown in southern Sri Lanka

Wickremesinghe, 56, voted in Colombo and said he was confident of winning. It was he who signed a cease-fire with the rebels in 2002 when he was prime minister and has taken a more conciliatory approach, promising to strike a peace deal by granting Tamils a degree of autonomy.

He also favours further liberalising the economy.

Most observers say the race is too close to call, making the 3.2 million largely Hindu Tamils – many of whom support Wickremesinghe – a crucial swing vote and major question mark.

There were no polling stations in rebel-held territory in the north and east - home to some 100,000 voters – because of security concerns. The Election Commission has set up polling booths near to the rebel-held territory.

The Tigers never explicitly said whether Tamils should vote, but pro-rebel student groups that often speak for the insurgents had urged a Tamil boycott.

The Tigers rebelled in 1983 over discrimination against Tamils, a largely Hindu minority, by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese, the majority of Sri Lanka’s 19 million people.

Some 65,000 people have since been killed, and the Tigers have become infamous for pioneering the use of explosive belts now used by suicide bombers around the world.

Peace talks stalled following a 2002 cease-fire, and Sri Lankans now refer to the near-daily shootings and bombings in and around Tiger strongholds in the north and east as the “shadow war”.

The violence continued yesterday with at least four people killed in eastern Sri Lanka, including a village guard reportedly shot by the Tigers, the military said.

Still, the Tigers have not weighed in on the election violently, as they have in the past. Kumaratunga lost an eye in a Tiger suicide bombing at her last rally in the 1999 campaign.

Whoever wins must contend with a foundering economy and a dispute over whether to share tsunami aid with the rebel Tamil Tigers. The disaster killed at least 31,000 people there and swept away the homes and livelihoods of one million others.