In a change from the trend in the last two elections in Sri Lanka, polling went off peacefully in the island, with nearly 75 per cent of 12.8 million voters taking part in a violence-free exercise that many believe will throw up a hung Parliament.‘‘It was very peaceful. There were no major incidents,’’ Deputy Inspector of Police (Elections) Gamini Navaratne said. Many feared an outbreak of violence during the election, after nearly 60 people were killed, including 10 Muslim political activists who were gunned down near Kandy, after the 2001 election. ‘‘This time it was a lot, lot less in terms of susceptibility to violence,’’ said Dr Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, co-convener of the independent Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), referring to just 103 reports of poll-related incidents that private election observers had sent in. Today’s election saw tens of thousands of Tamils from LTTE-controlled areas voting for the first time in more than 15 years, but Tamil parties opposed to LTTE complained of bogus voting by the rebel group on behalf of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidates.The Tigers have much to gain from a high percentage of voting by Tamils, as it has sought to use the election as a referendum on its status as ‘sole representatives’ of the three million Tamils and on its proposal for an autonomous interim governing authority for the island’s north-east.The split in LTTE ranks had its effect too, as reports from Batticaloa, the stronghold of breakaway leader Karuna, spoke of bogus voting. Not many are willing to predict the winner, except loyalists of the two main groupings, the United National Front of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the United People’s Freedom Alliance, an amalgam of President Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance and the Marxist-Sinhala nationalist JVP. But under the proportional representation system, it is unlikely that there will be a big majority for any party in the 225-member Parliament. Counting normally begins after the election and results are expected on Saturday.
