Prime Minister Wins Sri Lanka Presidency

Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa was declared the winner Tuesday of Sri Lanka’s presidential election, and he appealed for an end to the killing that has crippled the island nation.

“The ballots of the people have triumphed over the bullets of brutality,” Premadasa said. “I will eradicate fear and suppression. I will restore law and order.”

Premadasa’s victory with slightly more than half of the votes ended a campaign marked by hundreds of slayings, which the government blames on the People’s Liberation Front, a Sinhalese extremist group that opposed the election.

A 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was imposed on the nation of 16 million to prevent violence after the results were announced.

“I have an appeal to make to those who have still to join the democratic process,” Premadasa said in a nationally televised address. “Your participation will enable us to eradicate fear and poverty with greater speed.”

He also stretched a conciliatory hand to the two losing candidates, although an adviser to the runner-up, former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, said she did not accept the results.

The intimidation campaign by the Sinhalese extremists kept many people from the polls Monday. Only 55% of 9.3 million eligible voters turned out to vote, compared with 80% in the last presidential election.

Premadasa received 50.4% of the vote, followed by Bandaranaike of the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party with 44.9%, according to the election commissioner.

In Washington, the State Department said “we look forward to working closely with President-elect Premadasa to strengthen further the warm relationship we have enjoyed with Sri Lanka under (outgoing President Junius R.) Jayewardene.”

The current cycle of violence in Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island once famed as an idyllic resort, dates from 1983, when the Tamil ethnic minority began its uprising against the majority Sinhalese. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since then.

With the help of neighboring India, the subcontinent’s superpower and home to 60 million Tamils, Jayewardene signed a peace accord in 1987 aimed at ending the Tamil insurgency.

The People’s Liberation Front vehemently opposes the pact, saying the government should not compromise with the Tamils.