UNDATED: It was virtually a one issue campaign, and when it was over Sri Lankans couldn't hat/e -been more clear that they were fed up with civil war. reports AP.

Hardly deterred by the assassination that nearly derailed the election. Prime Minister and presidential candidate Chandrika Kumaratunga promised to pursue negotiations to end 1 1 years of war with Tamil insurgents.

Her adversary, ihe widow of opposition candidate Ganrtiil Dissanayake who was killed I I days before Wednesday’s election said she would talk with the Tamil Tigers only If the guerillas surrendered their weapons — virtually an impossible condition

K-umar.itunga s victory was an emphatic cry io? peace

Official results Thursday

gave Kumaratunga 62 per cent of the vote, compared with 37 per cent for Sri/na Dissanayake.

It was the largest margin since Srl Lanka adopted a French-style presidential system In 1982. when J R Jaye-wardene won 53 per cent of

zones of eastern Sri Lanka where civilians have been hru talised by both sides

In Batticaioa. an ethnically mixed town on the east coast, she won 10 votes to one. In Vavunia. the Tamil-dominated town ckisest to the northern front line, her margin was 8-1

years of rule by the UNP.

Despite voter fatigue, some analysts believe Wednesday s landslide may prbmpt the president elect to call another parliamentary election to broaden her narrow base and give her the two-thlrds majority she needs for constitutional

the vote.

Numbed by the assassinations of their leading politicians and generals. Srl Lankans sought no vengeance for the suicide bomb that killed Dissanayake and 56 others at a campaign meeting. Though the Tigers denied responsibility, they are widely suspected.

The returns suggested that Tamils and Muslims vdted heavily for Kumaratunga. especially In the former combat

But she also swept traditional strongholds of ttje United National Party (UNP). which has become identified' with the hardline Sinhalese majority that Is heavily Influenced by the conservative Buddhist eiergyi

The unequivocal victory consolidated Kumaratunga’s hold on power, after she led. the People's Alliance (PA) to victory In parliamentary elec Uons last August, ending 17

For a decade, this small teagrowing Island wns plunged Into chaos as the Tamils, who are 18 per cent of the populo tlon, sought to redress dis crimination. Sinhalese gov ernmenta progressively ban ned the Tamil language and denied Tamils government jobs.

Tamil terrorists rampaged across thy countryside, slaugh terIng Sinhalese and Muslim

villagers The government responded with equal brutality, arbitrarily arresting Tamils and summarily executing them. At least 34.000 people have died.

For most of those years, the economy was In shambles. The government devoted 20 per cent of Its budget to built an army to match one of the world's most ruthless, most dedicated and best trained guerilla forces.

In the last two years, the army regained ' control over most of the east and confined the Tigers to a stronghold tn the Jaffna Peninsula on the far north.

Market friendly policies brought foreign Investment, a booming stock market and an annual growth rate of more than 5 per cent — a measure of prosperity , that Sri Lankans want to consolidate with peace