Ex-rebel proxies sweep Sri Lanka local elections (AP)

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka ? A former proxy to Sri Lanka's defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels has swept local council elections held in areas ravaged by the country's 25-year civil war, winning 80 percent of the councils it contested.

The Elections Department said Sunday that the Tamil National Alliance won 20 local councils out of the 25 it contested in the ethnic Tamil-majority north and east. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance coalition secured five councils in Saturday's election.

The election has assumed unprecedented national significance, with the main two rivals seeing it as a confidence vote.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110724/ap_on_re_as/as_sri_lanka_election

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