Over 13 million Sri Lankans will vote on Thursday to choose its new president from 13 contenders, with the ruling party's Mahinda Rajapakse and the opposition party 's Ranil Wickremesinghe being the two most hopeful.

Sri Lanka's capital Colombo was calm on Wednesday as most shops, offices and schools kept open. The government deployed more troops and policemen to keep order ahead of the presidential election, which is the fifth time since 1982.

Rajapakse of Sri Lanka Freedom Party has pledged a tough line on the Tamil rebels as he forged election pacts with the leftist JVP (People's Liberation Front) and the Sinhalese nationalist party JHU (National Heritage Party).

In his manifesto, Rajapakse said the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was short-sighted and national security was compromised by that pact.

Rajapakse proposed to critically examine the merits and demerits of the steps taken so far to deal with the ethnic issue and consider a fresh approach.

"The ceasefire agreement will be amended so as to ensure that acts of terrorism would not be permitted in any way. The ceasefire monitoring mechanism would also be reviewed and new steps taken," said Rajapakse.

By contrast, the opposition United National Party leader Wickremesinghe vowed to bring about a permanent resolution to the ethnic problem through a political solution based on the current framework.

"The agreement arrived between the government and the LTTE and the Oslo and Tokyo Declaration, which guarantees the unity, democratic character and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, has created the framework of a solution acceptable to all communities of the country," Wickremesinghe said.

"I request from the people of Sri Lanka to reach a permanent political solution within this framework," he added.

Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe also have different opinions on economic policy. Rajapakse vowed to build up a "national economy" by attributing the positive attributes of free market economy with domestic aspirations. Wickremesinghe put more emphasis on free market policies and foreign investment.

The LTTE said earlier it would be neutral in the presidential poll. However, LTTE spokesman Daya Master said Tuesday that the Tamils of the North East will boycott Thursday's presidential elections.

Daya Master told a local newspaper that the LTTE has instructed the North East Tamil people to hoist black flags to demonstrate their boycott of the poll.

Meanwhile, several posters have appeared in the Jaffna peninsula threatening people with death if they go to cast their votes.

Several front organizations of the LTTE has ordered all shops and businesses to put up shutters and treat Thursday as a black day.

About 13.3 million men and women aged over 18 are eligible to vote on Thursday during a nine-hour polling period from 7:00 a.m. (01:00 GMT) to 4:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT).

The election will be held at 10,486 polling stations islandwide including 233 cluster polling stations to be set up for the voters residing in LTTE controlled areas.

Police will deploy 24,000 officers and over 22,000 election observers will be detailed on Thursday.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said the final result of the election will be announced Friday morning.

Source: Xinhua