October 28, 2001	Sunday	Shaba'an 10, 1422

COLOMBO, Oct 27: Campaigning kicked off on Saturday for parliamentary elections in war-torn Sri Lanka that are expected to be violent and accompanied by widespread accusations of ballot stuffing.

The campaign comes after a year of political and economic turmoil since elections last year that ended in a hung parliament. Even before nominations closed election-related violence had picked up around the island.

“We have heard of more than 200 cases of violence already, whereas last year there were only a couple dozen before the campaign started,” said one diplomat.—Reuters