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BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — Allegations of fraud, voter intimidation and sporadic violence marred elections in Sri Lanka’s east Saturday.
The vote was intended to show that a “new dawn” was coming to the impoverished area, recently liberated from the Tamil Tiger rebels, to give minority communities a degree of self-rule and to counter rebel demands for an independent state.
Kingsley Rodrigo, head of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, an independent monitoring group, said the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal was threatening and intimidating voters across the province. TMVP is a breakaway group of former rebels aligned with the government.
