50% turn out for polls in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north

Voting at some 850 stations began on schedule time Saturday morning

Over 50% of voters today participated in the first polls in 25 years in Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority Northern Province to elect a council for the former war zone, four years after the rout of the rebel LTTE.

By mid-afternoon, more than half the voters in most areas of the five districts of the province exercised their franchise, according to unofficial figures.

Voting at some 850 stations began on schedule at 7 am (local time) amid tight security to elect the provincial administration in the region dominated by the Tamil Tigers until their defeat by the military in 2009. Soldiers patrolled the streets with police, election observers said.

The election is expected to give minority Tamils a chance at self-rule after decades of ethnic conflict that left over 100,000 dead.

Earlier, election officials said a turnout of about 35% was recorded in Jaffna by 10 am (local time). Kilinochchi district saw a turnout of 29%, Mannar 30% and Vavuniya 24%, they said.

More than 2,000 local and foreign observers were deployed in the province, where nearly 715,000 people are eligible to vote in the election to choose a 36-member Northern Provincial Council for a five-year term.

Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaithivu and Vavuniya districts form the provincial council's jurisdiction. For decades, these districts were the main strongholds of the LTTE.

The run-up to the election saw allegations of voters being intimidated by the army. The charge was firmly denied by the military.

There are nearly 906 candidates for the polls in the Northern Province, which is witnessing its first election after councils were created under the 13th Amendment, a byproduct of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord.

In the first north and east provincial council elections in 1988, only one political party participated due to the LTTE's armed campaign to set up a separate Tamil homeland.

"My family and I want to maintain the peace here," an elderly man said after voting in Jaffna. He said he was supporting President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Tamil ally, Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), which is a part of the ruling coalition.

However a majority was expected to favour the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA). "Tamils have a lot of problems which are yet to be resolved," said a trader who did not want to vote.