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Small Parties May Benefit in Sri Lanka

Associated Press, Thu April 1, 2004 22:27 EST . TIM SULLIVAN - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Soldiers were out in force for parliamentary elections Friday seen as a showdown between Sri Lanka - 's president and prime minister but also likely to give increased power to smaller parties in the war-savaged country. ``I am confident that the people will vote for a stable government,'' Wickremesinghe, the architect of Sri Lanka - 's peace bid with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, said.
Voting picked up after officials formally declared the polls open at schools and government buildings which were turned into polling booths. At one polling booth in Colombo, 182 voters cast their ballot out of 1,800 registered voters in the first half-an-hour hour.

In eastern Sri Lanka - , ravaged by two decades of civil war, pre-poll violence left at least two people dead, including a candidate backed by Tamil Tiger rebels.

An uneasy tension prevailed in the area's main town, Batticaloa. Heavily armed soldiers were stationed every 100 yards in the Tamil-majority town.

In the Tamil heartland of northern Sri Lanka - , about 20,000 Tamil voters from remote rebel-held areas camped overnight to be able to cast their ballots at booths set up in areas between lands held by the rebels and the government, TamilNet Web site that reports on Tamil affairs said.

Opinion polls indicated that neither of Sri Lanka - 's two main parties were likely to win a majority in the 225-seat Parliament, which would force them to turn to smaller parties ranging from one tied to the Tamil Tiger rebels to one led by Buddhist clergymen to forge a coalition or get legislation passed.

The Sri Lankan media call the parties ``kingmakers,'' and while Sri Lanka - has long been accustomed to coalitions the most recent parliament was governed by one the role of small parties is likely to grow as top politicians struggle for a political mandate to resolve the civil war.

``In a situation of a hung Parliament, the importance of minority parties will be reinforced,'' said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a political analyst with the Center for Policy Alternatives.

A fragile truce is holding between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought to try to carve out a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils who have long faced discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.

The election is, in many ways, a showdown between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe, and their rival approaches to ending the war.

Wickremesinghe, who signed a February 2002 cease-fire agreement, says he's the only politician who can negotiate with the Tigers. But the president takes a more hardline approach, and insists the prime minister has made too many concessions to the rebels.

Political violence has been rising in recent days in Sri Lanka - , although it remains far less rampant than in the last election in 2001, when 61 people were killed in political attacks.