Sri Lanka Govt claims victory in elections

Sri Lanka's ruling Coalition has been declared the winner of key elections in the east of the island.

The United People's Freedom Alliance party and its allies hailed the victory as a major boost for the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.

But opposition parties and monitoring rights groups report widespread irregularities, including harassment by Tamil Tiger defectors now allied to the President.

Kingsely Rodrigo, who heads the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program that issues have been reported at several polling stations.

"Some of the polling agents were chased off, and they intimidated the voters, and the voters were not allowed to cast their vote properly," he said.

The polls were the first to be held in the tsunami-hit and ethnically-mixed eastern districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara in 20 years.

The ruling coalition won 20 out of 35 seats up for grabs in the new provincial council.

The region, once home to several Tamil Tiger enclaves, was brought under Government control after heavy fighting last year, and Colombo is determined to show normality has returned.