COLOMBO, Sept 29, Reuter: Marxist gunmen scared voters away from a Sri Lankan by election on Thursday by exploding a bomb in a street and shooting and injuring a man walking to a polling booth, police said.
No one was injured by the blast in the electoral district of Horowpatana, 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Colombo, in North Central Province, they said.
Police said they suspected that the Marxist People’s Liberation front (JUP) carried out both incidents and that JVP gunmen fired in the air near another voting center.
Only one in 10 of the 42,700 eligible voters cast their ballots and shops closed following warnings by the JVP not to participate in the poll, residents said.
The JVP opposed an Indian Sri Lankan pact aimed at ending a rebellion by the Island’s minority Tamils, has demanded early general elections and shunned by elections.
The result of the parliamentary poll, called to replace a ruling united national party minister who resigned, is expected later on Thursday.
The poll is being contested by the ruling United National Party (UNP) and two independent Candidates. Other parties boycotted the poll to back demands for a general election.
Police say the front, with members drawn mostly from the Indian Ocean Island’s majority Sinhalese community, has carried out about 420 killings since the agreement was signed in July 1987.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 7, 1988
