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Sri Lanka holds first post-war parliament poll
Sri Lankans voted on Thursday in an election likely to further entrench President Mahinda Rajapaksa's political dominance, the first parliamentary poll since last year's end of a quarter-century of war.
Nearly 80,000 police and soldiers have been deployed across the Indian Ocean island to guard polling stations, where voters were deciding among 7,620 candidates for the 225-member parliament.
Rajapaksa has already parlayed last May's victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists into a new six-year term, and is now banking on a resurgent economy and political momentum to give his United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) a legislative majority, although he has not said what he would use it for.
The end of the electoral uncertainty is expected to bring some stability to Sri Lanka's post-war landscape, and give way to a clearer picture of what Rajapaksa plans to do with a $42 billion economy billed as an upcoming frontier market. Rajapaksa cast his ballot early at a school named after his politician father in Medamulana, in the southern Hambantota district where his eldest son, brother and niece were all contesting seats as part of a growing Rajapaksa dynasty.
"We've ended terrorism now. What fire is under the ashes? We need to unite the broken hearts of this country through development," he told reporters. "That can be done only through a stronger parliament. We've already shown in this short time what we are able with economic and other developments."
The war deeply divided the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority from which Rajapaksa hails, like all of the country's leaders since independence from Britain in 1948. He says reconciliation can only come from democracy and development.
Rajapaksa's alliance has positioned itself as the shepherd of island-wide development and an economic revival, propelled by a stock market that has gained more than 150 percent since 2009 and sizeable foreign investment in high-yield government securities.
With the rupee currency on the rise, bond dealers say they expect steady foreign demand for government securities of 18 months' tenure or less to pick up, especially after the vote. The central bank this week reported GDP growth of 3.5 percent last year, and forecast 6.5 percent this year.
Rajapaksa and his allies are aiming to win 150 seats, or the two-thirds majority he needs to change the constitution -- though he has not made public his intended amendments. The opposition has vowed to block that, saying it would threaten democracy by giving him even more vast powers than he now has.
Rajapaksa, 64, in January polled 58 percent against 40 percent for retired General Sarath Fonseka, his former war ally whom the opposition backed after he split with the president. Fonseka after the election said the government had robbed him of victory, although monitors said there was no evidence of that. He was later arrested after being accused of plotting a coup.
Though still in military custody facing two courts-martial for politicking in uniform and improper procurement, Fonseka is running for parliament and remains an opposition rallying cry. He denies wrongdoing and says he is a political prisoner. His appeal to some voters is simply that he is not Rajapaksa. "I want a change. A change where if Sarath Fonseka will win. We'd like that," Colombo businessman R. Kumarasiri said.
Tamil parties have been able to campaign unhindered for the first time since the end of the war, but opposition parties say Rajapaksa's administration stifles dissent and the media, and intimidates people in Tamil areas with a heavy security presence and possibly armed proxies.
The government denies that as propaganda from Tiger supporters in the diaspora, and accuses the opposition of currying favour with Western governments that want to undermine Sri Lanka and get Rajapaksa out of power. Rights group and Western governments say the government has been involved with, or turned a blind eye to, rights violations against critics including kidnapping, arrests and killings.
President Rajapaksa casted his vote at a polling station in Hambantota in western Sri Lanka.
Polling begun at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm. Counting will begin this evening and first results are expected by tomorrow morning.
Sri Lanka holds first post-war parliament poll - The Times of India
Sri Lankans voted on Thursday in an election likely to further entrench President Mahinda Rajapaksa's political dominance, the first parliamentary poll since last year's end of a quarter-century of war.
Nearly 80,000 police and soldiers have been deployed across the Indian Ocean island to guard polling stations, where voters were deciding among 7,620 candidates for the 225-member parliament.
Rajapaksa has already parlayed last May's victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists into a new six-year term, and is now banking on a resurgent economy and political momentum to give his United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) a legislative majority, although he has not said what he would use it for.
The end of the electoral uncertainty is expected to bring some stability to Sri Lanka's post-war landscape, and give way to a clearer picture of what Rajapaksa plans to do with a $42 billion economy billed as an upcoming frontier market. Rajapaksa cast his ballot early at a school named after his politician father in Medamulana, in the southern Hambantota district where his eldest son, brother and niece were all contesting seats as part of a growing Rajapaksa dynasty.
"We've ended terrorism now. What fire is under the ashes? We need to unite the broken hearts of this country through development," he told reporters. "That can be done only through a stronger parliament. We've already shown in this short time what we are able with economic and other developments."
The war deeply divided the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority from which Rajapaksa hails, like all of the country's leaders since independence from Britain in 1948. He says reconciliation can only come from democracy and development.
Rajapaksa's alliance has positioned itself as the shepherd of island-wide development and an economic revival, propelled by a stock market that has gained more than 150 percent since 2009 and sizeable foreign investment in high-yield government securities.
With the rupee currency on the rise, bond dealers say they expect steady foreign demand for government securities of 18 months' tenure or less to pick up, especially after the vote. The central bank this week reported GDP growth of 3.5 percent last year, and forecast 6.5 percent this year.
Rajapaksa and his allies are aiming to win 150 seats, or the two-thirds majority he needs to change the constitution -- though he has not made public his intended amendments. The opposition has vowed to block that, saying it would threaten democracy by giving him even more vast powers than he now has.
Rajapaksa, 64, in January polled 58 percent against 40 percent for retired General Sarath Fonseka, his former war ally whom the opposition backed after he split with the president. Fonseka after the election said the government had robbed him of victory, although monitors said there was no evidence of that. He was later arrested after being accused of plotting a coup.
Though still in military custody facing two courts-martial for politicking in uniform and improper procurement, Fonseka is running for parliament and remains an opposition rallying cry. He denies wrongdoing and says he is a political prisoner. His appeal to some voters is simply that he is not Rajapaksa. "I want a change. A change where if Sarath Fonseka will win. We'd like that," Colombo businessman R. Kumarasiri said.
Tamil parties have been able to campaign unhindered for the first time since the end of the war, but opposition parties say Rajapaksa's administration stifles dissent and the media, and intimidates people in Tamil areas with a heavy security presence and possibly armed proxies.
The government denies that as propaganda from Tiger supporters in the diaspora, and accuses the opposition of currying favour with Western governments that want to undermine Sri Lanka and get Rajapaksa out of power. Rights group and Western governments say the government has been involved with, or turned a blind eye to, rights violations against critics including kidnapping, arrests and killings.
President Rajapaksa casted his vote at a polling station in Hambantota in western Sri Lanka.
Polling begun at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm. Counting will begin this evening and first results are expected by tomorrow morning.
Sri Lanka holds first post-war parliament poll - The Times of India
