Sri Lanka leader wins local poll

Rajapaksa, seen with his wife, is riding high from his defeat of the Tigers

Sri Lanka's ruling coalition has swept to victory in a provincial poll that some commentators say will pave the way for an early presidential election.

The vote in the Southern Province, home of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saw his coalition take 68% of the vote.

The BBC correspondent in Colombo says Mr Rajapaksa was boosted by the recent victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels.

However, an election monitoring body said the campaign was the "worst ever" in terms of violations of the law.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections said there were hundreds of reports of violence and intimidation in the run up to the vote.

Staggered polls

In an apparent move to build up an electoral head of steam, the government has held staggered polls in eight provinces, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

With this latest victory, Mr Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance has won all eight.

The opposition United National Party took a distant 25% of the southern vote and the Marxist-nationalist JVP, whose heartland used to be the south, won only 6%.

Only the formerly Tiger-ruled Northern Province, which is emerging from decades of war, has yet to vote.

Our correspondent says some believe the president will now call a snap presidential election - which he can do any time from next month - but he is reported to have said on voting day: "I have two more years in office."

A parliamentary election, however, must be held by April.