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TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka's government Sunday claimed victory in key provincial elections in the ethnically-mixed east of the island, saying the win is a major boost for its war against the Tamil Tigers.
Election officials confirmed the government and its allies were on track to win control over a 35-member provincial council in the east coastal region, a part of which was under rebel control before an offensive last year.
"The government victory at the eastern polls has shattered the wild dreams of the West-backed Eelamists (Tamil Tigers)," said Sri Lanka's environment minister, Patali Champika Ranawaka.
He said the results had proved "not only Sinhalese but even Tamils have placed their faith in the government."
The elections on Saturday were part of plans by President Mahinda Rajapakse to boost the war effort against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who still control a swathe of jungle in the north.
The president wants to partially devolve power from his ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government to ethnic Tamil allies in the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP), a party of rebel defectors based in the east.
The government, which pulled out of a truce with the LTTE in January, says this will undermine rebel demands for a separate ethnic state and could provoke further splits in guerrilla ranks.
The polls were the first to be held in the tsunami-hit and ethnically-mixed eastern districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara in 20 years, and Colombo was also determined to show normality has returned there.
With nearly all votes counted and validated, election officials said Rajapakse's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its TMVP allies were likely to win at least 18 out of 35 seats on a new provincial council.
They said the government had won in the districts of Ampara and Batticaloa, while the opposition were only able to capture more seats in the strategic harbour town of Trincomalee.
The government's website also claimed outright victory.
The opposition UPA party, allied with Sri Lanka's main Muslim party, have complained of widespread irregularities. Rights groups also accused the TMVP of harassing voters and stuffing ballot boxes.
The polls were also overshadowed by the LTTE sinking of a navy cargo ship in Trincomalee hours before polling started on Saturday, as well as a bomb attack next to a crowded cafe in the eastern town of Ampara late Friday that killed 12 civilians.
Tamil rebels began attacks in the early 1970's and all-out war broke out in the 1980's. The conflict has claimed around 70,000 lives. - AFP/ac
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