COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July 24 (UPI) -- Minority Tamils won 18 of 26 regional elections in Sri Lanka Sunday in areas where their militants once fought for independence against government troops.
The Tamil National Alliance's victories were in the island's northern and eastern regions and were considered a setback for the predominantly Sinhalese government of President Mahendra Rajapaksa, the BBC reported.
All of the other regional elections were won by governmental incumbents, the report said.
The TNA party was the political arm of the Tamil Tigers militant group that began fighting for independence in 1983 from Sri Lanka until they were defeated in May 2009.
During campaigning, the TNA accused Rajapaksa's government of intimidation and lavishing political favors in a bid to keep them out of power, which the government repeatedly denied, the report said.
Election officials said there had been no reports of voting irregularities or violence in Sunday's voting.
