Ceylon Chamber of Commerce says free and peaceful poll marred by voter intimidation in the north. Call for candidates to work together but opposition leader rules that out.Although the chamber says polls were fair and peaceful it regrets that people in the North were not able to vote because of pressure and intimidation.

It found this pressure that kept around 700,000 people away from the polling booths unacceptable.

Mahinda Rajapakse had 180,000 more votes that Ranil Wickremesinghe during the election.

He was declared the winner by the elections chief on Friday.

The chamber wants all parties to work together with the new president to bring peace and economic growth.

However Wickremesinghe, who polled most of the minority votes, says that is unlikely to work.

"I asked to give me a chance to accept our policy. So if they accept our policy I'll give the answer. Our policy is entirely different from their policy. We ask the country to follow that policy," Wickremesinghe says.

The Opposition leader, who plans to continue in office despite his second presidential defeat, also says people in the North were clearly denied their vote.

-LBR Newsdesk: LBOEmail@vanguardlk.com