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K Venkataramanan in Colombo
Sri Lanka on Wednesday went through another parliamentary election marred by violence and allegations of malpractices, but the worst was saved for the last, when seven political activists were gunned down by suspected rival party gunmen after the polling was over.
The macabre killing by a slew of bullets pumped into a car carrying supporters of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem came while ballot boxes were being transported to counting stations after voting at Katugasgota near the central hill town of Kandy, police said.
The killings took the total death toll for the day to 12, as there were two other deaths in Kandy and three elsewhere in the island, including that of a seven-year-old boy.
Nearly 75 percent of electors cast their votes, and the government clamped an island-wide curfew till dawn to ensure that the counting process was not disrupted.
Unlike in the past, there were less incidents of violence this time. There were sporadic incidents of firing and storming of polling booths.
However, for those concerned about a tainted election, the violence was overshadowed by a sudden decision by the Sri Lankan army to close down entry points that would have brought thousands of voters from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-held areas to cast their votes in government-run polling stations.
Election monitors, including the European Union's observers, flayed the move that they said had disenfranchised some 80,000 voters living in the northern and eastern patches of territory held by the LTTE.
First results are expected only early Thursday. Pre-poll surveys have given an edge to the opposition United National Party over the ruling People's Alliance, but yet another hung Parliament is not ruled out, given the close contests in many districts.
PTI
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