Sri Lanka votes for new parliament ‎

Sri Lankans went to the polls on Monday to elect a new parliament in what amounts to a referendum on ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa's comeback bid, with the reformist alliance that swept him from power seeking a stronger mandate.  The nationalist strongman has set his sights on becoming premier of a government led by his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).  But former ally, President Maithripala Sirisena, who beat him at the January 8 presidential election, now leads the party and he rules that out.  The tangled personal rivalry has overshadowed campaigning on the Indian Ocean island of 20 million people, which has a history of political feuding that has often spilled over into violence and even the assassination of its leaders.

Sirisena, in a cross-party alliance with a government led by the United National Party (UNP), has sought to break with that  troubled past by passing reforms to weaken his own presidency and make the government more open and accountable.  Some voters in Colombo said they were casting their ballots for reconciliation and good governance, showing sympathy for the UNP of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.  

69-year old Rajapaksa is revered as a war hero by many of Sri Lanka's Sinhala speaking Buddhist majority for crushing a 26-year Tamil uprising in 2009.  Opponents accuse him of running a corrupt, brutal and dynastic regime - charges he denies. 

Voting was slow in the Tamil-speaking north, where memories of the civil war are fresh and issues like restitution of land occupied by the military remain unresolved.  Polls closed late Monday afternoon, and the first results were expected after midnight (1830 GMT).   (Reuters)