Analysts said a low Tamil turnout could favour Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse over opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Poll officials said Tamils were by and large boycotting the vote.

Election authorities sent buses to territory held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to transport voters to polling booths in government-held areas, but there were few takers.

However there were still several hours to go before polls closed at 1000

"A low turnout in Tamil areas is a clear advantage to the prime minister," said Tamil politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan. "The boycott is depriving Ranil of the votes he would have otherwise got."

Prime Minister Rajapakse has vowed a hardline approach to the Tigers if elected while Wickremesinghe wants to revive the peace talks and seal a deal.

With the majority Sinhalese community split down the middle between the two main candidates, analysts say the Tamils, who usually vote as one bloc, could be crucial.

"The Tamil vote could be the deciding factor," said Sunanda Deshapriya, a director at the Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank.

The future of the island's faltering peace process, as well as Sri Lanka's deteriorating economy after decades of war and last year's tsunami, have emerged as the main issues in the election.

The LTTE, which has led a decades-old campaign for a separate state, wields considerable influence over Tamils living in territory it controls as well as in neighbouring areas.

A truce was struck in 2002 but violence has continued to plague the island. More than 60,000 people have died in the ethnic conflict.

In northern Jaffna peninsula, where the Tigers maintained their de facto separate state till they were driven out in December 1995, only about 500 voted out of some 701,938 eligible voters.

However, in the rest of the country there was brisk polling and election officials said total turnout in the first five hours of the nine-hour voting period was over 55 percent.

Some 13.3 million people are eligible to vote for a candidate from among 13. But only Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe are the main contenders to replace outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who lost a court bid to remain in office.

Security was tight after at least seven people were killed overnight before the election in the troubled eastern province. Officials said a spate of bomb attacks wounded five soldiers and a constable.

The market-friendly opposition leader went into election day with a slight lead in the polls over the left-wing Rajapakse, but most analysts insisted the race was too close to call.

Local media reported the Tamils were leaning toward Wickremesinghe, which spurred the Colombo Stock Exchange to a record high Wednesday with prices rising 5.5 percent.

However the market shed 1.6 percent Thursday following reports the minority Tamils were shunning the vote, traders said.

Rajapakse, who turned 60 Friday, voted in the southern village of Weeraketiya and denied accusations he wants to take the country back to war.

The LTTE have labelled the movie star-turned-premier the "war candidate" after he called for a full review of a Norwegian-backed peace process.

"I totally reject that," he told AFP after casting his ballot at the Rajapakse high school, named after his late father.

Wickremesinghe, 56, who voted in Colombo, listed the quest for peace as topping his agenda if he wins.

"People are voting for me on three issues -- hunger, unemployment and peace," Wickremesinghe said. During campaigning he vowed to strike a deal with the Tigers in "two to three years."

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