December 8, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 22, 1422

COLOMBO, Dec 7: Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader was invited Friday to form a new government as a curfew was imposed to tackle post-election violence that claimed at least another three lives.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga invited Ranil Wickremesinghe to form a new administration after his United National Party (UNP) routed the president’s People’s Alliance in general elections Wednesday.

Kumaratunga, who remains in office until December 2005, will now have to work with a hostile parliament led by Wickremesinghe — who will have financial and legislative control and powers to impeach the president.

Wickremesinghe, who served as premier from May 1993 to August 1994, has pledged to reopen peace talks with Tamil Tiger separatist guerrillas in a bid to end Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war and revive the economy.

Sri Lanka’s tiny stock exchange rocketed on the news that the more business-friendly UNP was set to re-take power after seven years.

“We just couldn’t cope with the buying orders,” said Elton Ebert of Ceylinco Stock Brokers after the All Share Price index rose 20 percent to close at 643.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced the UNP had won 109 seats and an allied party another five, giving the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) a two-seat majority in the 225-member assembly.

The UNF can also bank on the support of 15 minority Tamil legislators. —AFP