Sri Lanka is heading into an election on Tuesday that will make or break the government`s ambitious plan to rewrite the constitution in an effort to end the island`s 17-year civil war.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga regards the election as a referendum on a proposed new constitution that would give more power to the regions, including the north and east where separatists are fighting for a Tamil homeland
The 55-year-old president, who herself carries the scars of her country`s violence, hopes to win over moderate Tamils dim the appeal of the liberation tigers of Tamil eelam and bring an end to the war which has claimed more than 63,000 lives and added an extra strand of instability to an already restless, newly nuclearized region. Kumaratunga failed to push the new constitution through Parliament in August. She hopes tomorrow`s vote will give her people`s alliance enough of the 225 seats to command the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution.
Although they are outnumbered 3-1 by the Sinhalese ethnic group and have never directly run for office, the Tamil rebels have swayed most elections on this west Virginia-sized island of 18.6 million and made politics a lethal occupation. Bureau Report