|
Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling party won control on Sunday of the country's tense Eastern Province following an election the opposition condemned as irreparably flawed.
The government hailed the victory in a region it freed from rebel rule last year as a mandate to push ahead with its increasingly costly war against the Tamil Tigers in the guerrillas' heartland in the north.
"It shows that the people from all communities want terrorism wiped out from the whole country, not just from the east," said Chandrapala Liyanage, spokesman for President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The election commission said the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance coalition won 52 per cent of the vote, giving it a total of 20 seats on the province's 37-member council. The opposition United National Party won 42 per cent of the vote and 15 seats, while two smaller parties won a seat each, the commission said.
The ruling party ran in a coalition with a breakaway rebel faction known as the TMVP, which has been accused of campaigning with weapons and threatening voters and opposition candidates.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said the vote was marred by violence and rigging and his party was "totally rejecting the results."
Opposition leaders planned to meet in Colombo to decide whether to file a suit to overturn the election, said Rauff Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, which ran in a coalition with the UNP.
|
