``We have taken lot of precautions to ensure a peaceful election,'' a police spokesman in the southern province capital Galle, 112 kms south of here, said over telephone.

Several schools in the southern province have been closed to accommodate thousands of elections officials and police reinforcements.

The provincial council election, the highest level of local government in the island, is seen as a litmus test for President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance which came to power after winning the southern provincial council in May 1993.

Key allies who supported the party earlier are now standing against Kumaratunga's ruling party.

Previous local elections this year have been marred by vote-rigging and violence, and private election monitors said more than 150 cases of violence had beenreported in the run up to this poll.