Peace my first priority - Opposition Leader

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, voted yesterday saying his first priority if elected would be to cut a peace deal with the LTTE.

Wickremesinghe and his wife Maithree voted at the College House polling booth in Colombo, where he told reporters he was confident of becoming the island's fifth Executive President.

"I am confident of victory," Wickremesinghe said after casting his ballot.

He said he would talk to the SLFP in trying to take forward the peace process with the LTTE."Speaking with the SLFP to take forward the peace process with the LTTE would be my first priority when I am elected," Wickremesinghe said.

He said a decision on whether to dissolve the current Parliament would be taken after talks with other political parties on co-operating to take the peace process forward.

"People are voting for me on three issues - hunger, unemployment and peace," Wickremesinghe told AFP.

During campaigning he vowed to strike a deal with the LTTE in "two to three years."