Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance wins historic election

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party has won the first elections for a semi-autonomous council in the island's north after decades of ethnic war, official results show.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won 30 seats in the 38-member council following Saturday's Northern Provincial Council elections.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's coalition won seven of the other seats.

Charles Haviland in Jaffna reports that the result appears to "exceed the Tamil National Alliance's own expectations".