KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka - Minority Tamil candidates hope a weekend election in their heartland in northern Sri Lanka will give them a mandate to demand self-determination.
But Sri Lanka's ruling coalition has campaigned with unexpected zeal for the local council races in Saturday's vote. Their aim is a victory that would blunt calls for an international war crimes investigation and vindication of the harsh tactics that killed thousands of Tamil civilians in this area in the final months of its quarter-century civil war.
The Tamil regions in the island's north and east account for 26 of the 65 races being decided. The area once controlled by the Tamil Tigers rebel group is now a base for the former rebel proxy Tamil National Alliance.
