One dead in Sri Lanka local elections as polling ends

Jul 23, 2011, 12:13 GMT

Colombo - Voting to elect members to 65 local councils in Sri Lanka ended Saturday with reports of one death and several cases of irregularity, poll monitors and officials said.

The elections were the first in more than 20 years for 20 councils in the northern and north-eastern parts of the country. The area was recaptured from Tamil rebels two years ago at the end of a 26-year civil war.

An estimated 60 per cent of the 2.5 million people eligible turned out to vote. Election monitors and opposition parties reported irregularities mainly in the north,

'We have lodged complaints with the Elections Commissioner and police that the army in civvies were involved in seizing the voting cards of minority Tamil voters,' a spokesman for the opposition Tamil National Alliance said.

Voters were electing municipal, urban and village councils on a staggered basis. Polls for 245 councils were held earlier this year and elections for 20 more councils are due later in the year.

A supporter of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance was killed in an election-related incident in Anuradhapura, 180 kilometres north of the capital, on Saturday. Members of his own party supporting another candidate were blamed.

The focus of Saturday's elections was the Northern Province where the Tamil National Alliance, a proxy of the Tamil rebels, is campaigning.

The United People's Freedom Alliance led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who spent three days campaigning in areas formerly held by the rebels, also contested the polls.

Northern areas functioned without local council representation until government troops retook the territory in 2009.

The elections were delayed as the government was resettling displaced people and clearing mines in the area.

Election monitoring groups - People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFREL) and the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections - said there were allegations of election malpractices in the north.

These included people dressed in military uniforms grabbing polling cards and intimidating voters.

'We have reports from our monitors that persons were distributing food items for voters in the northern town of Kilinochchi in return for the polling cards. This is a violation of election laws,' said PAFREL spokesman Rohana Hettiarachchi.

Polls closed at 4 pm (1030 GMT), with results expected at around midnight.