Armed, state-backed ex-rebels win Sri Lanka poll

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BATTICALOA, Mar 11 (Reuters): Government-backed former Tamil Tiger rebels accused of abductions and killings have won a landslide in a Sri Lankan local election that critics say was unfair because they remain armed, officials said Tuesday.
The TMVP, made up of fighters who defected from the mainstream Tigers in 2004 and helped the government evict their former comrades from the east of the island, polled first in all nine local contests in Monday's vote.
"TMVP captured all the local authorities," Batticaloa Assistant Election Commissioner Thuraisingam Krishnananthalingam told Reuters after an all-night vote count. "Out of the total cast, they have got more than 70 per cent of the vote."