Campaigning wounds up; a razor fight expected in Lankan polls

As the final election rallies were being held the opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said he fears that the ruling party led by incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa might intimidate voters and indulge in violence.

The electioneering has been marred by large scale violence and four people, most of them opposition supporters have been killed and hundreds wounded in the run up to the polls.
Even the house of Fonseka's chief election agent was bombed.
To deter violence, the country's Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake said "sufficient forces and election observers" would be in the field to thwart any organised malpractices.

Dissanayake has warned that in case vote rigging or voter intimidation came to light he would order immediate report. The ruling party however has denied opposition charges to rig the vote.

Rajapaksa and Fonseka wound up their hectic election campaign by addressing mammoth meetings in the capital as their supporters took out colourful last processions.
Fourteen million voters will cast their franchise on January 26 in the Presidential poll and the Commissioner of Elections said he expected a large percantage to cast their vote.
The country heads for its first peace time presidential elections after a hectic and often bitter personal attacks by the two candidates, Rajapaksa and Fonseka, both architects of the victory over Tamil Tigers.

The polls will be held for the first time in 37 years without the presence of the Tigers, who fought a brutal war for a Tamil homeland but were crushed by government forces in May last year.