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Sri Lanka votes in tense post-war election
January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankans voted in their first post-war presidential election on Tuesday amid claims of violence and voter intimidation after a bitter and highly personal campaign. The contest was a straight fight between the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapakse, and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka, and was seen as too close to […]
‘s Fonseka unable to vote in election
COLOMBO, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said he was unable to vote in Tuesday’s presidential election because his name was not on the electoral register. A pro-government politician had wanted him thrown out of the contest when he filed his nomination because he wrongly claimed Fonseka was a […]
‘s Tamils trudge to polls in post-war vote – Scene
VAVUNIYA, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Kandaswamy Wellarayanam, 73, walked six kilometres to vote in Sri Lanka’s election from a state camp where displaced Tamils were locked up after the country’s war last year. Now able to move freely, he said he and his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were eager to take part, even […]
Sri Lanka presidential candidate barred from voting over identity
Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – A leftist candidate in Sri Lanka’s presidential polls was turned away by polls officials Tuesday because he could not present a prescribed identification document under the country’s election laws. There are 22 candidates in the running for the presidency. The front runners are President Mahinda Rajapaksa and common opposition candidate […]
Sri Lanka polls open for tense presidential election
January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Pre-dawn bomb blasts in Sri Lanka’s Tamil heartland escalated tensions as the country went to the polls Tuesday in the first presidential election since the end of its 37-year ethnic conflict. The bomb attacks in the northern peninsula of Jaffna were a violent start to an already bitter contest between […]
Bomb blasts shadow bitter Sri Lankan presidential poll
January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Pre-dawn bomb blasts in Sri Lanka’s Tamil heartland escalated tensions as the country went to the polls Tuesday in the first presidential election since the end of its 37-year civil war. The bomb attacks on the house of a ruling party activist in the northern peninsula of Jaffna underlined the […]
Sri Lanka northern polling low: monitors
Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – Polling in Sri Lanka’s north was estimated to be about 15 to 20 percent and in the east about 50 percent while the rest of the country had higher turnouts by early afternoon, a poll monitoring group said. Reports said war refugees in the north had difficulties in getting transport […]
Sri Lankan Tamils pray for post-election peace
VAVUNIYA, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, for decades in the crossfire between rebels and government forces, hope their potentially decisive role in Tuesday’s election will finally bring them peace. The two main candidates, President Mahinda Rajapakse and former general Sarath Fonseka, were the architects of a final assault on Tamil Tiger […]
Sri Lanka heads to polls for tense election
January 25, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka goes to the polls Tuesday in its first post-war presidential election, contested by the men who ended the island nation’s 37-year conflict but whose bitter clash threatens more instability. “If there is a war, we will face it,” he added, threatening street protests and rallies. Rajapakse, like Fonseka […]
Sri Lankan stock close 0.64-pct up
Jan 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks up closed 0.6 percent higher Monday ahead of presidential polls tomorrow despite heavy foreign selling and index-heavy John Keells Holdings reporter strong results for the December quarter, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 3,554.45, up 0.64 percent (22.72 points), while the Milanka index of […]