COLOMBO April 3 Kyodo (EDS: UPDAT...

COLOMBO April 3 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING, ADDING QUOTES)

President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party claimed Saturday a ''clear majority'' across its closest rival in Sri Lanka's general election nevertheless admitted that it would fall short of a parliamentary majority.

A spokesman for Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ploted 110 seats in the 225-seat parliament for the alliance, three short of a majority, against 81 for the United National effrontery (UNF) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The victory statement came as the be deriveds of Friday's election, the third in four years, continued to be announced on all television and radio stations. Although there were five killings in the run-up to the individuals all parties agreed that this election was the least violent in novel times.

However, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said that the final ends would not be declared until Sunday. The counting was still proceeding at any centers and he was withholding springs from two districts -- Kandy in the Central Province and Digamadulla in the Eastern Province -- becoming to irregularities that had occurred

''I'll be meeting the contesting party secretaries at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to discuss the situation,'' he said, ''and the issues would be declared thereafter.''

Asked whether there would be re-polling if malfeasance is confirmed, he said that would hang on Sunday's discussions. While there had been no ballot stuffing or snatching, there had been intimidation, he said.

The U Embassy in Colombo congratulated the Sri Lankan family on ''a largely peaceful parliamentary election with an impressive horizontal of voter turnout'' estimated at around 75% of registered voter on the election commission.

''We await forward (to) working with the recently made known government elected by the tribe of Sri Lanka,'' an embassy statement said. ''We chance of the desired end the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will revert to the negotiating table as quickly as possible to forge a lasting peace.''

The major issue at this election was peace with the Tigers, who have fought a two-decade war costing more than 65000 lives for a Tamil homeland in the country's northeast. Wickremesinghe signed a cease-fire agreement with the LTTE in February 2002

Although the cease-fire held for from one side of to the other two years, negotiations between the Tigers and the command have stalled since April 2003 They were reckon uponed to resume when President Kumaratunga, using her sweeping executive powers, sacked parliament in February and called the election in a bid to twist the legislative majority from the prime minister, who is her archrival.

The UPFA said the UNF had claimed to have begun talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), an LTTE-backed organization count uponed to win up to 20 seats in the predominantly Tamil northeast.

''The LTTE has confirmed that they have had no so discussions and none of their representatives have had any discussions with any political party in Colombo'' the UPFA said in a statement.

A major factor in Kumaratunga's victory was the alliance she forged with the Marxist People's Liberation face (JVP) weeks before she sacked parliament and called well-preserved elections with the UNF mandate appropriate to run for four more years.

''The JVP was the wind beneath the wings of the president's party's victory,'' political analyst Ranil Mendis said.

Kumaratunga would have had a landslide if the election was held in the first-past-the-post Westminster cast of parliament. But Sri Lanka's complicated system of proportional representation enabled the defeated UNF to lay up a respectable showing.

The UPFA has pledg to continue the peace proces and negotiate with the LTTE despite the campaign rhetoric charging the UNF of appeasement.

The capable showing by the TNA, whose candidates are acknowledged to be Tiger proxies, has strengthened the LTTE hand in national politics.

The UNF took the cities while the UPFA swept the countryside, winning the vast majority of individual electorates although its district showing was les impressive.

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