Sri Lanka local polls get underway

Xinhua
...................................................................................................................................................

Voting in the second stage of Sri Lanka's local elections was underway on Saturday.

Two and a half million people are to vote at more than 2200 polling stations with some 20 political parties and independent groups contesting the elections.

Sri Lankan Tamils in the former rebel held town of Kilinochchi in the north of the country turned up in small numbers early Saturday to cast their votes and select a local council representative after more than 25 years.

The local council elections are being conducted in several parts of Sri Lanka but the focus is on Kilinochchi as well as Jaffna in the north where former war displaced minority Tamil communities will vote, two years after a 30 years war came to a bloody end.

Most of the displaced people were in temporary camps since the end of the war, in conditions which drew criticism from international human rights groups, and were later resettled over the past several months.

Saturday's elections were already marred by reports that some Tamil voters were intimidated or had their voting cards forcefully taken away by unidentified groups.

"We have received complaints of unidentified groups visiting the homes of some people in Kilinochchi and forcefully taking away their voting cards last night," Rohana Hettiarachchi from a local election monitoring group told Xinhua.

There were also reports of a house belonging to a supporter of a Tamil political party being set on fire in Killinochchi.

The election was going ahead with one death reported so far in Anuradhapura, in north-central Sri Lanka.

A police unit tasked with monitoring election related violence also said that the polls were so far being conducted in a peaceful manner.

Gamini Navaratne of the police elections unit said that they have been given strict instructions to take stern action on anyone attempting to disrupt the polls.

The election results are expected to be announced Sunday and the ruling party led by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to win the ongoing elections.

In the first stage of the elections held in over 200 local councils in March, the ruling party recorded a landslide victory.

© Xinhua