Sri Lankan gov't plans legal action against opposition candidate

COLOMBO, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Tuesday that the government is contemplating legal action against the common presidential candidate of the opposition and former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka.

"We will seek a court order against his candidacy," Bogollagama told reporters.

The government claimed that Fonseka was not eligible to be a candidate as he was not a registered voter.

"He can't be declared the winner when he is not suitable to be a candidate," Bogollagama stressed.

Fonseka said he had applied but failed to get his name into the 2008 voter register.

Bogollagama said the applicable electoral roll in the presidential election was finalized in 2008 and Fonseka was not on that list.

Dayananda Dissanayaka, the Commissioner of Elections said a candidate need not be a registered voter nor cast his vote in order to be eligible to run for office and thereby Sarath Fonseka is eligible to run for the post.

The island's sixth presidential election concluded peacefully Tuesday afternoon with an estimated turnout of 65 to 70 percent.

Main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said the high poll rate and low rate of violence are indicators that opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka would be the winner.

Election officials said some 114 incidents of election law violations had been recorded. Most of the incidents came from the central district of Kandy.

Several incidents of voter intimidation were recorded in southern and eastern provinces.

Election officials said counting will be done in over 800 centers. The first results are expected from midnight local time (1830 GMT).

The Department of Elections said 14,088,500 Sri Lankans were eligible to cast their votes at 11,098 polling stations from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time (0130 GMT to 1030 GMT).

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called the election two years ahead of schedule to capitalize on his popularity among the majority Sinhalese after ending the island's bloody ethnic conflict.

Fonseka, who commanded the Army to defeat the rebels from 2006 to 2009, is equally credited for the victory.