Sri Lankans voted Saturday in a provincial assembly election seen as a test of whether ethnic minority Tamils still want self-rule or are satisfied with government-led economic development in a region devastated by a quarter-century civil war. As of midday, only small numbers of voters had turned out at polling booths in Batticaloa, one of three districts in Eastern Province. Voters were electing 35 members of the Eastern Provincial Council from 1,470 candidates. According to AP, more than a million people were eligible to vote in the three districts.
