Sri Lankans have finished voting in a presidential election that was marked by a heavy army and police presence. The Polling booths opened at 7am and closed at 4pm (local time). Election officials estimated that between 60% to 70% of the 11.77 million electorate had turned out by midday to vote at nearly 10,000 polling booths. Counting is expected to begin this evening and the results should be known by midday tomorrow.
The month-long campaigning for the elections, which boiled down to a neck-and-neck race between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, ended in bloodshed on Saturday, with bombings at separate election rallies. Ms Kumaratunga narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a suicide bomber who killed 21 people and injured 110 at a rally outside Colombo Town Hall.
President Kumaratunga, who was protected from the main impact by her car, suffered shrapnel injuries to her face. She was discharged from hospital on Monday, but did not cast her ballot in the election. In a second bombing attack Saturday on a rally organised by Wickremesinghe's United National Party, at least 12 people were killed and 40 wounded. The government has blamed the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for both attacks. The Tigers are leading a campaign for independence in the island's northeast.
Government-run radio complained of attacks, aided by police, on ruling People's Alliance supporters during the polling. Police said that they shot dead two PA activists in a northwestern district, after one of their patrols allegedly came under fire. The whole of Sri Lanka's 50,000-strong police force was mobilised for the polls, with the armed forces playing a back-up role. A nationwide all-night curfew is expected to be imposed as a formality this evening.
