Sri Lankans vote to pick new parliament

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 8 (UPI) -- Sri Lankans voted Thursday to pick a new parliament in the first polling since President Mahinda Rajapaksa's military ended the prolonged Tamil Tiger civil war.

Rajapaksa won re-election last January by a big margin against his nearest rival, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, another war hero who is also contesting in the parliamentary poll despite being in custody on various charges including allegedly trying to destabilize the government. Fonseka has denied all the charges against him.

The Sri Lankan government Web site said there was tight security to ensure fair voting.

"The election commissioner has taken steps to deploy Special Task Force officials at polling stations where certain incidents had been reported during earlier elections," the report said.

The report said a total 7,620 candidates from 36 political parties and 301 independent groups were in the fray, competing for the 225-seat parliament. More than 14 million people were eligible to vote at 1,155 centers.

The BBC quoted analysts as saying Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Party-led coalition, which currently has 128 seats, was expected to win as the opposition groups remain fractured. The president wants a two-thirds majority, which would allow him to change the constitution.

Both Rajapaksa and Fonseka became heroes after the military ended the 26-year-old Tamil Tiger rebellion for a separate homeland for the Tamil-speaking minority. The two later fell out and became opponents in the January presidential election.