Lankans vote for president today

Rajapakse...... ...................... ...Sirisena

Nearly six years after Sri Lanka's army destroyed the Tamil Tigers, their ghosts are haunting a bitterly fought presidential election as the embattled incumbent seeks to boost his share of the vote.

The Tamil Tigers terrorised Sri Lanka for decades with their trademark suicide bombings and high-profile assassinations before suffering a spectacular defeat in May 2009, ending a civil war that had claimed 100,000 lives.

President Mahinda Rajapakse took credit for the no-holds-barred military offensive that all but wiped out the rebels, and won a landslide re-election victory the following year.

But as the post-war gloss begins to wear off, the president has hinted darkly at a Tiger resurgence if he is not returned to power when the country goes to the polls today.

Analysts say he is hoping the prospect of a resurgence may be enough to dissuade voters from ditching their strongman president.

"The president thinks that the LTTE factor will influence the Sinhalese to vote for him," rights activist Jehan Perera told AFP.

"There is so much propaganda it will be difficult for people to figure out what is the truth and what is not," said Perera, head of the Colombo-based National Peace Council.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's election commission yesterday said it is investigating claims that troops are being deployed in the Tamil-dominated north.

Wanni was part of the war zone where Tamil separatists fought the army in a decades-long conflict that ended only five years ago.

Both local and international poll monitors have expressed fears that authorities could try to prevent Tamils from voting after the main Tamil political party backed opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

He is now seeking an unprecedented third term, although allegations of rampant corruption and a failure to bring about reconciliation between the Tamils and the majority Sinhalese population have dented his popularity.

Tamils voting as a bloc today could emerge kingmakers in the likely event of the majority Sinhalese vote splitting down the middle between Rajapakse and Sirisena, who are both Sinhalese.