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Your support makes all the difference.Police shot and killed two political activists outside a polling station as Sri Lankans flocked to the polls in a presidential election that will decide the course of efforts to end a brutal 16-year war with Tamil separatists.
Police shot and killed two political activists outside a polling station as Sri Lankans flocked to the polls in a presidential election that will decide the course of efforts to end a brutal 16-year war with Tamil separatists.
Policemen fired into a crowd when their vehicle came under attack in Dumbalasuriya, about 43 miles north of Colombo, said a police official on condition of anonymity. The attackers were believed to be supporters of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
"They first fired at a police vehicle and our forces retaliated, killing two of them," said the senior police official.
In Negombo, 19 miles north of Colombo, unidentified gunmen attacked homes of opposition United National Party's supporters. Initial reports did not speak of casualties.
After two deadly bombings over the weekend by suspected Tamil rebels, Sri Lanka called in the army and antiterrorist commandos to guard the thousands of polling stations across this lush island off India's southeastern coast from attacks by Tamil separatists.
President Kumaratunga was slightly wounded by one suicide bomb and a total of 33 people were killed.
But election violence among political parties also is common, and Tuesday's vote was preceded by hundreds of incidents during the two-month campaign in which seven people were killed and dozens injured.
At Gampaha, the hometown of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the president's 83-year-old mother, was brought in a wheelchair to cast her vote alongside Mrs. Kumaratunga's sister Sunetra and daughter Yasodhara.
Chatting with other voters, the family said the president was unlikely to come to Gampaha, 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Colombo, to vote. Mrs. Kumaratunga was recovering from injuries from the suicide bombing at her final campaign rally Saturday, and police feared another attempt to kill her.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan denounced the bombing and expressed concern that terrorism "may make the prospects for achieving peace even more difficult," said spokesman Fred Eckhart. In Washington, the State Department also condemned the weekend bombings.
Brisk voting was reported from several areas - up to 25 percent in the first two hours - including the eastern Ampara district which is predominantly Tamil and Muslim population.
With the vote apparently split among the Sinhalese majority, the minorities could determine the outcome. More than 12 percent of the electorate are Tamils who live in the districts that Tamil rebels want for a Tamil homeland.
Mrs. Kumaratunga, bandaged and recovering from Saturday's attack, was looking for a broader mandate to either pursue peace or crush the rebels with military force.
She is facing a tough challenge from Wickremesinghe, who has rejected Mrs. Kumaratunga's plan for regional autonomy in the Tamil dominated northeast.
Wickremesinghe has said military victory is not an option, and has pledged to pursue unconditional peace negotiations with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Nine other candidates were in the race, and may siphon off enough votes to prevent either of the two front-runners from winning the required absolute majority. If that happens, the second preferences marked on the ballots will decide the winner.
Despite a limping economy and high unemployment, the war has overshadowed every other issue.
Before the weekend bombings, Mrs. Kumaratunga had been seen as the underdog.
The hammering on the battlefield highlighted a deep-running disillusionment with five years of rule that failed to deliver on her promise to end the debilitating war, give a fair deal to the Tamil minority, and bring economic prosperity.
In the last six weeks, disastrous defeats in the northern battle front had thrown the Sri Lankan army into disarray and increased doubts about the president's chances for reelection.
Wickremesinghe has tapped into a deepening yearning to end the conflict, even though the war broke out during the 17-year rule by his own party.
Sri Lanka's civil war erupted in a full-scale rebellion in 1983. Nearly 61,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million people displaced in a total population of 18.6 million, as the Tigers sought to partition a country the size of Ireland.
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