Former Tamil Tiger rebels win Sri Lankan local elections
Tuesday, 11 Mar 2008 11:48
Former Tamil Tiger rebels won elections in the eastern region of Sri Lanka
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Former Tamil Tiger rebels have won local elections in the eastern region of Sri Lanka.
The TMVP party, made up of former rebels who defected to the government, won all nine local elections in Monday's vote.
"TMVP captured all the local authorities," Batticaloa assistant election commissioner Thuraisingam Krishnananthalingam told the Reuters news agency.
"Out of the total cast, they have got more than 70 per cent of the vote."
The results were dismissed by human rights groups and opposition parties who claimed the election was unfair because the TMVP had refused to hand over its weapons and due to the large-scale violence in the region.
Sri Lanka's government is hoping the elections will allow them to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels who are calling for independent regions in the north and east of the country.
A civil war between the two sides has raged for some 25 years and has invited considerable international condemnation.
In July last year, government forces finally managed to defeat Tamil Tigers in the eastern region of the country, ending 13 years of rebel rule.