Sri Lanka votes for new president

Send your questions to voters

Polling has now ended in a presidential election observers say will be key to Sri Lanka's future.

However, most members of the Tamil minority in areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels boycotted the poll.

That could harm the main opposition candidate, the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.

The other main contender is the current premier, Mahinda Rajapakse. The two men have differing views on the peace process and the economy.

The slow process of post-tsunami reconstruction has also been an issue.

Tight contest

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says turnout was brisk in non-Tamil areas.

I feel Mahinda Rajapakse will win. His motives and thoughts are good Palpolaga Kumarasiri, Colombo voter

A spokesman for the elections commissioner said by noon local time (0600 GMT), turnout except for the north and east of the island was between 50% and 60%.

Only 10% had turned out by noon in Vanni, which is part-controlled by the Tamil Tigers. The turnout in Jaffna is expected to be only 1.5%.

Opinion polls had suggested that Mr Rajapakse and Mr Wickramasinghe would be neck and neck.

More than 13m people were eligible to vote in the election, Sri Lanka's fourth national poll in six years. Thirteen candidates stood.

The poll ends the tenure of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

She has dominated the island's politics since taking office for the first of her two terms in 1994.

'Allowing to happen'

Some roadblocks were set up in Tamil Tiger areas to stop people travelling to polling stations.

The Tamil Tigers had said they would not disrupt the vote.

Mr Wickramasinghe (L) and Mr Rajapakse - the main contenders

Our correspondent says the Tigers did not overtly organise the road blocks, but election monitors say the rebels allowed them to happen.

Polling stations opened at 0700 and closed at 1600. First results are not expected until midnight (1800 GMT), with final results due on Friday. One candidate needs a simple majority.

Security was tight with more than 60,000 policemen and 8,000 soldiers guarding booths at more than 10,000 polling stations amid fears of violence from Tamil Tiger rebels.

"I feel Mahinda Rajapakse will win. His motives and thoughts are good," said Palpolaga Kumarasiri, a voter in Colombo.

Another voter, Trelawly Senaratne, said Ranil Wickramasinghe was the best candidate for peace.

"We want peace more than anything else. And Ranil is best suited to lead us because he is talking of peace."

The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan in Jaffna in the rebel-dominated north said the early turnout in the town was very thin.

In one polling station in Jaffna town where 2,083 people are registered to vote, only one ballot was cast nearly three hours after voting began.

Rebel indifference

Sri Lanka has a history of election bloodshed, but this campaign has been one of the most peaceful for years.

There were no polling booths within Tamil Tiger-held areas in the north and east. The rebels said they had no interest in the election and did not care who won.

Burning tyres and road blocks appeared in the north and east

They did not help transport voters to polling stations on the edge of rebel-held territory.

Correspondents say the widespread abstentions by Tamils could harm the chances of Mr Wickramasinghe, the candidate of the opposition United National Party (UNP).

He was prime minister when a ceasefire was reached with the Tamil Tigers in 2002 and is seen as more pro-peace than Mr Rajapakse.

He is also a supporter of liberal market economic reforms.

Mr Rajapakse, of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), is a populist whose heartland is the countryside in the Sinhala-Buddhist-dominated south.

He opposes privatisation and wants subsidies for farmers.

In pre-poll deals with Marxist and Buddhist parties he pledged a hard line in peace talks, including a renegotiation of the ceasefire agreement.

Reconstruction following the tsunami which devastated swathes of Sri Lanka's southern and eastern coast in December is also a key election issue.

Mr Rajapakse has pledged to tear up an agreement reached between President Kumaratunga and the Tamil Tigers on the distribution of funds for tsunami aid.

He says it gives too many concessions to the Tigers.