Sri Lanka's government Sunday claimed victory in key provincial
elections in the ethnically-mixed east of the island, saying the win
is a major boost for its war against the Tamil Tigers.
Election officials confirmed the government and its allies were on
track to win control over a 35-member provincial council in the east
coastal region, a part of which was under rebel control before an
offensive last year.
"The government victory at the eastern polls has shattered the wild
dreams of the West-backed Eelamists (Tamil Tigers)," said Sri Lanka's
environment minister, Patali Champika Ranawaka.
He said the results had proved "not only Sinhalese but even Tamils
have placed their faith in the government."
The elections on Saturday were part of plans by President Mahinda
Rajapakse to boost the war effort against the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who still control a swathe of jungle in the north.
The president wants to partially devolve power from his ethnic
Sinhalese-dominated government to ethnic Tamil allies in the Tamil
People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP), a party of rebel defectors based in
the east.
The government, which pulled out of a truce with the LTTE in January,
says this will undermine rebel demands for a separate ethnic state and
could provoke further splits in guerrilla ranks.
The polls were the first to be held in the tsunami-hit and ethnically-
mixed eastern districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara in 20
years, and Colombo was also determined to show normality has returned
there.
With nearly all votes counted and validated, election officials said
Rajapakse's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its
TMVP allies were likely to win at least 18 out of 35 seats on a new
provincial council.
They said the government had won in the districts of Ampara and
Batticaloa, while the opposition were only able to capture more seats
in the strategic harbour town of Trincomalee.
The government's website also claimed outright victory.
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