Nearly 70 per cent voting in Lanka

Nearly 70 per cent voters cast their franchise in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections today — the first since the decimation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year — and is expected to be a close finish between incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger, General Sarath Fonseka.

The turnout was reported to be brisk around the capital Colombo and the Sinhala dominated areas but light to moderate in Tamil areas of the northern part of the island where polling was marred by pre-dawn bomb blasts and allegations of vote rigging. The counting would start tonight, with early trends expected to be available around midnight.

Rajapaksa, 64, had called the election two years ahead of schedule apparently to cash in on the military victory over LTTE, but an acrimonious campaign was witnessed between him and his former military chief, Fonseka.

The joint opposition candidate, Fonseka said he was unable to vote, as his name was not on the electoral list, prompting statements from the ruling party lawmakers that he could face disqualification.

Elections Commissioner Dayananada Dissanayaka released a statement a short while ago, stating that a candidate need not be a registered voter nor cast his vote in order to be eligible to run for office.

Dissanayaka said Fonseka, 59, would not face disqualification if he was duly elected.

However, media reports said many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been stranded in Vavuniya without transport to take them to their respective polling divisions.

The opposition charged that it was done with a design to influence the outcome of the voting in that area, it said.

Themiya Hurulle with the New Democratic Front said the IDPS were deprived of the transport despite earlier assurances by the government that they will be provided with this facility today. The Marxist JVP member Vijitha Herath was detained in Vavuniya this morning while he was on his way to Kilinochchi, the JVP media unit said. He was detained together with former Presidential candidate Channa Gamage, who is supporting General Sarath Fonseka.

Armed groups had attempted to block voters from going to their respective booths at Horowpathana and Mulkirigala in North Central Sri Lanka but the matter was later solved with the arrival of the police.

Expressing relief after the first half of the voting got over, election monitors said barring minor incidents in Northern Jaffna and Western Gampaha the situation was more or less peaceful.