Both parties will rely on the results of the election to the Wayamba Provincial Council in north-western Sri Lanka as a key indicator of the mood of the voter in the rest of the country as well as to influence the national electorate in forthcoming elections.

Parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled in 2000 while local elections in six other provinces, postponed in 1998, may be held this year.There is therefore much at stake in tomorrow's election in which 52 seats are being contested by 446 candidates from seven political parties. Of these, the main parties are the PA and the UNP.

Campaigning was conducted at a feverish pitch, with both sides deploying all their party machineries to ensure victory in the smallprovince which includes the two districts of Kurunegala and Puttalam. President Chandrika Kumaratunga addressed a huge rally in the province, invoking the atmosphere of a national election. Most members of her Cabinet were involved in the electioneering which ended Friday.

Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe also addressed a big meeting in Wayamba while Karu Jayasuriya, a fast-track UNP politician and the Mayor of Colombo, has been camping in the province to add zest to the party's campaign to retain power in the province.

This is the second major election in Sri Lanka after the PA was voted to power in 1994. The PA won the nation-wide elections to village, town and city councils in 1997 but Monday's election has assumed crucial importance due to its proximity to the national elections.

Both sides have been trading charges of violence in the feisty run-up to the election and a non-government organisation, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), said it had received 675 complaints fromboth sides in 45 days of campaigning.

The maximum allegations are against the PA, with the UNP alleging that efforts are on to rig the election. A large contingent of policemen and soldiers will guard Wayamba on election day, with the army providing additional security after polling closes.

So far, two people have died in poll-related violence while one woman campaigner from the Opposition UNP alleged she had been stripped by ruling party supporters while on a house-to-house campaign.

Tyres were burnt near a rally addressed by Wickremesinghe with the UNP alleging that this was done to dissuade its supporters from attending the meeting.

``The total violence reflects the polarised aggression of the PA and the UNP towards each other,'' the CMEV said in a report on Sunday.