By Xinhua,
Colombo : The Sri Lankan government on Saturday denied claims by election watch dogs and the main opposition party that the Eastern Provincial Council election held for the first time in 20 years was not free and fair.
“Except for a few incidents, the election was free and fair,” Anura Yapa, the government spokesman and the Minister of Media said.
Susil Premajayantha, the minister of Education said that a few incidents were not big enough to alter the final outcome of the election.
Keerthi Tennakoon, media spokesman for the Campaign For Free and Fair Elections said that over 175 incidents of assault, threats on voters, impersonation had been received by the watch dog.
Tennakoon said that children around 13 years old had been used as impersonators.
The Department of Elections said in a short statement that the estimated voter turnout was approximately 65 percent, 55 percent and 60 percent respectively in the three administrative districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.
The polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (0130 GMT) and closed at 4 p.m. (1030 GMT) in the province with eligible voters totaling 982,721.
Voters would elect 37 members to the Provincial Council in the aftermath of the recapture of the whole province from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in July 2007.
A total of 1,342 candidates were in the fray from 18 political parties and 73 independent groups.
Tissa Attanayake, general secretary of the main opposition United National Party said the party had received information on large scale election law violations.
The voter turnout was particularly low in the Tamil minority dominated villages in the province in the early hours, election monitors on the ground noted.
However, the voting picked up in the afternoon with more people turning out to vote.
The multi-ethnic eastern province has all three communities, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim in almost equal proportions.
Election monitors said they had received a few complaints of chasing away and threats issued by certain groups in the Batticaloa district.
The opposition parties have warned that the election could not be held in a free and fair environment due to a government backed armed group in the Batticaloa district.
The east was separated from the Northern Province in 2006 by a Supreme Court ruling after the two provinces remained as a single unit since 1987.
The government views Saturday’s election as a test of its popularity after it regained control of the province.
Government troops are currently battling the LTTE rebels in the north with the aim of crushing the group before the end of 2008.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese government, the LTTE rebels have been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish an independent homeland for Tamil minorities, resulting in the death of more than 70,000 people in the island.