Скачать или смотреть Polls open in Sri Lanka presidential election

(17 Nov 2005) SHOTLIST

1. Sign with directions to the "polling station"
2. Various of people putting signs up
3. Various exteriors of polling centre, guard with gun
4. Various interiors of polling centre, electoral workers
5. Preparations for vote, inside electoral centre
6. First people arriving to vote
7. Vote in ballot box
8. Interior of polling booth
9. Various of people arriving to vote

STORYLINE

Sri Lankans voted on Thursday for a president to shape peace efforts in a country which has been bloodied by more than two decades of civil war and devastated by last year's tsunami.

In Colombo, voters showed up early to cast ballots at heavily guarded polling stations.

The race pits Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, who has appealed to hard-liners, against dovish opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

To avoid a repeat of violence that has marred past elections, armed police guarded many of the nearly 10,000 polling stations, and riot police and army reservists were on standby.

For the presidential contenders, solving nearly every issue that faces the country, from aiding tsunami victims to developing the economy, starts with ending the rebel Tamil Tigers' war for autonomy in the Tamil heartland of northeastern Sri Lanka.

Each candidate has staked out opposite sides of Sri Lanka's political spectrum in the campaign to replace President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is stepping aside after 11 years because of a constitutional two-term limit.

Rajapakse, who turns 60 the day after the vote has pledged to review the stalled peace process and not share political power or tsunami aid with the Tigers.

He insists his hard-line can lead to peace, a tough stand that has won him wide support among Sri Lanka's predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

Wickremesinghe, 56, who signed a cease-fire with the rebels in 2002 when he was prime minister, has taken a more conciliatory approach, promising to strike a peace deal by granting the Tamils a degree of autonomy.

He also favours further liberalising the economy.

Most observers say the race is too close to call, making the 3.2 million (m) largely Hindu Tamils, many of whom support Wickremesinghe, a crucial swing vote and major question mark.

There were no polling stations in rebel-held territory in the north and east, home to some 100,000 voters, because of security concerns.

But in at least one stronghold of the Tigers, insurgents kept people from crossing over to government territory to cast votes, a move that could be a deciding factor in the tightly contested race.

The Tigers never explicitly said whether Tamils should vote, but pro-rebel student groups who often speak for the insurgents had urged a Tamil boycott.

The Tigers rebelled in 1983 over discrimination against Tamils, a largely Hindu minority, by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese, the majority of Sri Lanka's 19 million people.

Some 65,000 people have since been killed, and the Tigers have become infamous for pioneering the use of explosive belts now used by suicide bombers around the world.

Peace talks stalled following a 2002 cease-fire, and Sri Lankans now refer to the near-daily shootings and bombings in and around Tiger strongholds in the north and east as the "shadow war."

The violence continued on Wednesday with at least four people killed in eastern Sri Lanka, including a village guard reportedly shot by the Tigers, according to military sources.

Still, the Tigers have not weighed in on the election violently, as they have in the past.



Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...