Colombo - Voting in a provincial election in southern Sri Lanka opened Saturday amid allegations by the opposition that the ruling party had misused state property for the campaign.

An estimated 1.7 million voters are eligible to vote in the Southern Province to elect members of the provincial council. More than 1,000 candidates are vying for 55 places in the council, which is responsible for the administration of the province.

The ruling United People's Freedom Allaince (UPFA), led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is from the Southern Province, is favoured to win the poll mainly because of its efforts to end Sri Lanka's civil war by defeating the Tamil separatist rebels in May.

Elections have been held in seven of the country's nine provinces, and the UPFA has won all seven.

Tissa Attanayaka, general secretary of the main opposition United National Party, accused the ruling party of misusing state property, including vehicles and officials for the election campaign in addition to using state television and radio for propaganda work.

About 350 incidents of intimidation, shootings and assaults of party supporters have taken place in the six-week campaign, but no serious incidents have been among them, election-monitoring groups reported.

Polling, which began at 7 am (0130 GMT), was due to continue until 4 pm, and results were expected early Sunday. (dpa)