Violence overshadows Sri Lanka poll

A bomb attack rocked Colombo during the start of election campaigning

By CNN's Kasra Naji
in Colombo

(CNN) -- "Violence is murdering democracy," says John Cushnahan, the head of a 40 member European Union election monitoring team in Sri Lanka for Wednesday's parliamentary election.

He is referring to more than 40 people who have been killed so far in the five-week election campaign that has seen more than 2000 registered cases of election-related violence.

Opposition politician, Rauf Hakeem, has spoken of his fears of a blood bath in the country's second biggest city Candy on polling day.

"If everybody's worst fears are realized then there is no doubt that this process could be seriously tainted and tarnished," Cushnahan says.

The army has been called in and more than 40,000 policemen have been deployed to try and keep the peace on Wednesday as more than 12 million eligible Sri Lankans go to the polls in the country's second parliamentary elections in 14 months.

Clear-cut winner?

The last election failed to produce a clear-cut winner.

The then incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) managed to cobble together a minority coalition government which collapsed earlier in the summer when a number of government supporters crossed the floor of the parliament to join the opposition United National Party (UNP).

Few believe Wednesday's elections are going to produce a clear-cut winner either.

Opinion polls published on Sunday, the last day of the election campaign, showed the UNP -- led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe -- more than four points ahead of the PA.

But even if this advantage is translated into number of seats, it is unlikely that the UNP will have a majority big enough to govern on its own.

Kumaratunga will also remain in office -- her term as president will not finish for another four years.

Outlook bleak

Security has been tightened around polling stations

The outlook is bleak for Sri Lanka.

The elections are unlikely to bring an end to nearly two decades of war mostly in the north and east of the county where Tamil Tiger rebels are fighting for a separate state.

Around 64,000 people have been killed in the ethnic conflict and many more have been maimed. A big number are also missing.

The war has been eating up what might be spent on development.

Last July's Tamil Tiger suicide attacks on Colombo's international airport led to the destruction of 14 aircraft -- including four Sri Lankan Airways passenger jets.

The tourist industry has also collapsed, throwing tens of thousands of Sri Lankans out of their jobs.

The attacks also led to a dramatic rise in the war insurance premium for aircraft and ships visiting Sri Lankan ports -- making imports much more expensive and exports uncompetitive.

Both major parties say they are committed to reforms but with violence plaguing the country, Sri Lanka may be set to plunge deeper into political and economic crisis.