Sri Lankans vote to elect a new president

Sri Lankans on Saturday voted to elect a new president in an election that has seen rising religious tensions in the country.

The top two contenders in a poll that has a record 35 candidates vying to lead Sri Lanka's government are Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former defence minister and brother of two-time former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Sajith Premadasa, the ruling United National Party's (UNP) candidate.

Polls opened at 7:00am local time (01:30 GMT) on Saturday and were due to close at 5:00pm (11:30 GMT). Some 15.9 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote at 12,845 polling stations in the country's 22 electoral districts, according to the Election Commission. Final results are expected by Sunday.

Election observers reported sporadic cases of limited violence and electoral violations, including two cases of assault and 41 of intimidation.

In the early hours of Saturday, unidentified shooters opened fire on a convoy of more than a 100 buses carrying voters mainly Muslims at Thanthirimale, about 240 Km(150 miles) north of Colombo.

"Unidentified groups shot at and pelted stones at the buses," said Manjula Gajanayake, the national coordinator for the Colombo-based Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV).

Gajanayake said there had been no casualties reported, and the buses continued to their destination.