Sri Lanka held its first local elections on Thursday since the end of its long ethnic war two years ago, in a test for the all-powerful government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Since government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in 2009 after decades of warfare, Rajapakse has tightened his grip on power by securing a second presidential term and winning parliamentary polls.
Voting was under way in rural areas where 9.4 million people were eligible to elect more than 3,000 people to serve on local councils.
Polls in urban areas were put off until the cricket World Cup, currently being co-hosting by Sri Lanka along with Bangladesh and India, ends in April.
Rajapakse, who heads the United People's Freedom Alliance and is seen as a hardline Sinhalese nationalist, voted on Thursday at his home constituency of Hambantota district.
He has vowed to speed up post-war infrastructure development across the island, but minority Tamils accuse him of ignoring their needs.
Results are expected Friday.
Short link: