Tamils Vote for Future in Sri Lanka's First Post War Polls

(09 Aug 09 - RV) Sri Lanka's ruling coalition has swept to victory in local elections in the island's south, an endorsement of the military's victory over the Tamil Tigers, while a pro-rebel party had a strong showing in the war-scarred north.


Voters in the north appeared apathetic for the country's first postwar elections, with election monitors reporting that voter turnout was low in both Jaffna and Vavuniya, two cities near the former battlefields.


According to Election Department results released Sunday, the pro-rebel Tamil National Alliance won the Vavuniya town council, while the governing United People's Freedom Alliance, took majority of seats in Jaffna.


The government claims its victory in Jaffa _ the ethnic Tamils' heartland and the birthplace of their insurgency _ as an endorsement of its handling of ethnic relations, postwar rehabilitation and a rejection of separatism.


Jehan Perera is director of the Sri Lanka National Peace Council.


He says while these elections are a step in the right direction, the government is still denying basic human rights to the Tamil people, particularly the 300,00 still imprisoned in refugee camps three months on from the war’s end: