Sri Lanka Holds Eastern Poll
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankans trickled to the polls Monday in the turbulent eastern city of Batticaloa to vote in the first municipal elections since government forces seized control of the east last year from ethnic Tamil rebels.
Though thousands of police and soldiers patrolled the streets, many residents only warily came to polling stations in this city, which has been plagued by chaos and violence blamed on armed militia groups vying for power in the wake of the rebel defeat.
A high turnout was crucial to the government, which held the election despite boycotts by some political parties and protests from human rights groups that said the level of violence and intimidation made it impossible to hold a fair vote.
“We don’t expect the leaders to give us anything other than a chance to live in peace. If there is peace, we can work and take care of ourselves,” said voter Sinnakutty Nagalingam, 36, a father of three who works as a mason. “With this situation, if we go out to work, there is no certainty that we will return home.”
Hoping to prevent violence during the voting, the government flooded the area with police. Soldiers armed with assault rifles stood guard every few yards, checking vehicles on the near empty road leading into town, while other troops patrolled in armored personnel carriers.
The city and surrounding villages looked deserted with most people remaining indoors fearing violence. Police frisked all voters thoroughly before allowing them into the polling stations.
Few people turned out to vote when polling started at 7 a.m. Turnout improved by mid-morning, and the elections appeared to be free of violent incidents.
However, a bomb blamed on the rebels exploded along a main road in the capital, Colombo, just before 7 a.m., killing one person and wounding six others. It was not clear if that attack was linked to the voting.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa billed the vote as a crucial step toward democracy for the region after the government defeated the Tamil Tigers here last July after 13 years of rebel rule.
Violence, much of it blamed on armed groups, has plagued the area since then. Many of the militias, most prominently a collection of former rebels known as the Karuna group, are running in the election. The Karuna group teamed up with Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition to try to win control of the Batticaloa municipality.
The group’s mayoral candidate, Edwin Krishnanandaraja, known better by his rebel nom de guerre Pradeep Master, said the militia had just entered the “democratic stream” and hoped to disarm “gradually.”
He dismissed widespread allegations that his group forcibly recruited children into its militia, extorted money from businessmen and was behind rampant violence and killings. The group has also been accused of forcing popular community leaders to run on its ticket.
Human rights groups and opposition parties said the election was irredeemably tainted by the climate of violence.
The country’s main opposition United National Party and the main regional party, the Tamil National Alliance, boycotted the election, saying they would not run against armed groups.
In 2005, the Tamil Tigers enforced a boycott of the presidential election and burned tires in the streets and hurled grenades into polling stations to frighten defiant voters. A repeat of those incidents appeared unlikely.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for an independent state in Sri Lanka’s north and east for minority ethnic Tamils, who were marginalized for decades by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.
Since the military recaptured the east last year, the region has been plagued by violence and chaos.