Tamil Tiger supporters score upset

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Tamil Tiger supporters in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka, secured the majority of council seats in elections in the northern part of the country, officials said.

Sri Lanka's governing party won two seats Saturday while the Tamil National Alliance picked up five seats in Vavuniya, where voter turnout was 52 percent, the BBC reported Sunday.

In Jaffna, the region's largest city, voter turnout was a low 20 percent as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's governing United People's Freedom Alliance, secured 13 of the 23 council seats.

Some voters complained the election was conducted too early, with more than 250,000 Tamils still detained in northern government camps, the BBC reported. The detainees were placed in the camps in May after Rajapaksa declared an end to a years-long civil war and the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Saturday's elections came a day after Rajapakska's government said it had arrested Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the new head of the Tamil Tigers. the BBC reported.