Lanka vote marred by violence

A shooting incident and reports of intimidation -- mostly by ruling party supporters -- marred yesterday's parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, independent election monitors said.
The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported 286 incidents of poll-related violence during the nine hours of balloting across the country.
A shoot-out between a group of opposition and government supporters in the island's south early Thursday damaged a vehicle, but caused no injuries, CMEV spokesman DM Dissanayake said.
Most complaints were against the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance led by President Mahinda Rajapakse.
"Pro-government supporters are reported to have impersonated and intimidated voters," Dissanayake said, adding that in some places unidentified men had grabbed polling cards from those trying to cast their ballots.