Ballots, bullets: Peace after poll in east Sri Lanka?

By Simon Gardner

VAVUNATIVU, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Standing by the bullet-strafed ruin of her home in east Sri Lanka, housewife Jegan Devika prays the first poll in over a decade in an area recaptured from the Tamil Tigers will mark the end of her civil war.

Devika and thousands like her yearn for long-elusive, and lasting, peace after 25 years of war.

She was forced to flee her home in this former rebel-held town in the eastern district of Batticaloa yet again in 2007 as artillery-backed troops regained the rebels' eastern strongholds.

Monday's vote is seen as a test run for eventual provincial elections in the north and east, which the government regards as the basis for devolution it hopes will go hand in hand with its push to win the war militarily.

But there's a problem.

Former Tigers who split from the mainstream group, and regarded as allied to the government, have formed a political party and are seen as the poll front-runners.

They are accused of abuses such as child soldier recruitment, abductions and extrajudicial killings and have yet to lay down their weapons.

"Contesting elections is good. If peace prevails, life will be better for us," Devika said, cradling her 8-month-old daughter in front of the breeze block and corrugated metal shelter she, her husband and in-laws have built since resettling in the area.