The political alliance led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga won the largest number of seats in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections, officials said yesterday, apparently forcing aside her longtime rival, the former prime minister.

　　The president's United Peoples Freedom Alliance secured 105 seats in the 225-member Parliament - eight short of an absolute majority - and party leaders were already in discussions with smaller parties on forming a coalition government.

　　While former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could - in theory - forge a coalition to form a new government, his party's poor showing of just 82 seats made that highly unlikely.

　　Friday's polls largely revolved around the question of who was best suited to negotiate an end to decades of civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels: the president or the prime minister.

　　A government led by Kumaratunga would almost certainly mean a shift in the direction of the peace talks, as the president, who survived a 1999 Tiger assassination attempt, has long distrusted the rebels.

　　There was no immediate comment from the Tigers.

　　The Tamil National Alliance - the proxy party of the Tigers - won 22 seats. A party led by Buddhist monks took nine, and the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress won five, according to final results released by the Election Commission. While the vote went far smoother than most in Sri Lanka, there were reports in a handful of areas of voter intimidation and the stuffing of ballot boxes.

　　Politicians who attended the meeting yesterday said neither of the main parties had asked that polling be held again in the two areas - one in the country's central highlands, and the other in the east.

　　Kumaratunga dismissed the prime minister's negotiations, saying he has made far too many concessions to the Tigers, a ruthless, secretive group that fought for nearly two decades for an independent homeland for the minority ethnic Tamils. However, the Tigers have said they would be willing to negotiate with whichever party wins the elections.

　　(The Associated Press)