3 shooting incidents reported as polling ends in Sri Lanka

Polling has ended in a tumultuous election in Sri Lanka that saw three shooting incidents and a total of 84 complaints reported to monitors, officials said here on Saturday. The largest share of election violence was reported from the Northern Province where elections are being held for the first time in 25 years after a brutal three-decade war ended in 2009. At least seven people were also injured when an unidentified group fired into the air causing a stampede at a polling booth in the island's Central Province, which is also having elections. The north-western province is the third region selecting a new council. The elections are being intensely fought in the Northern Province with the main Tamil Party, the Tamil National Alliance ( TNA), pushing for a chance to move ahead with power devolution since the end of the war. Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) have highlighted serious concerns regarding the credibility of the elections, pointing out that one of their observers were attacked while engaging in his work in the northern town of Kilinochchi. Another local observer was assaulted on Friday morning. CaFFE, who have deployed 600 monitors in the north, noted that one voter was injured when a policemen misfired his weapon and another shooting allegedly took place at a polling station by the military. "There are also concerns that the vote counting will not be trustworthy and we have already received five complaints regarding this. Given the high level of violence this election cannot be considered as free and fair," CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon told Xinhua. However, the Government Information Department (GID) in a public notice insisted that the elections were conducted smoothly with 68 percent voter turnout recorded in the north. Election monitors believe the number is far less, with initial numbers indicating only 55 percent of eligible voters actually used their franchise. International attention on the northern provincial council election is intense with Commonwealth and South Asian observers flocking to the region. India, Canada, United States and Britain are among countries that have sent contingents of diplomats to observe the polls.