Photo: AP
Now able to move freely, he said he and his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were eager to take part, even though buses that were meant to transport them never turned up.
"We walked to vote because we felt it was important after the war," he said. "I was keen to have a say in who should be our next president... We've not had free food and rations for two months and depend on odd jobs to survive."
He, like many other Tamils in the highly militarised Tamil-dominated town of Vavuniya, 160 miles north of the capital Colombo, said he would vote for former army chief Sarath Fonseka.
Fonseka and President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is seeking re-election, were the architects of a final assault on Tamil Tiger separatists last year that the UN says killed 7,000 civilians in Tamil areas.
After the end of the conflict, which has been mired in allegations of war crimes, an estimated 300,000 displaced Tamils were locked up until December in camps that were closed to the media and humanitarian groups .
An estimated 80,000 remain, the rest having been freed at the end of last year under pressure from the United Nations.
Voting started slowly in Vavuniya but picked up during the day as locals filed into the makeshift polling booths in schools.
Among the majority Sinhalese population, there was support for Rajapakse, the scion of a political family known for his energetic oratory and popular touch.
"I voted for Mahinda (Rajapakse) to thank him for ending the war and allowing my children to grow up without fear of bombs," said Sinhalese tradesman Japgath Karuntilake, 42.
Ratnasingham Sittambaraja, 75, was in two minds as he entered the town's Tamil National School to vote.
"I heard a lot of allegations about the president's corruption. I'm still not sure who to vote for," he said.
Tamil politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan said there was enthusiastic polling in Tamil areas although many had failed to register as voters because they had been driven from place to place by years of fighting.
"We saw a slow start, but voting is very peaceful," Sithadthan said.
In the majority Sinhalese capital, Colombo, there was enthusiasm and turnout appeared to be high, according to voters and officials.
"I have been voting at this booth for over 20 years but never saw a crowd like this," said Mohamed Sallel, a businessman casting his ballot in the city's Borella commercial area.
Doctor Nimalka Perera turned up to vote on her way to the Colombo National Hospital, but ended up standing in line for an hour to vote at a polling booth inside a school building.
"When I first came here, the queue was too long so I went back and came two hours later on my way to the hospital and found the line even longer," Perera said.
Election officials checked her polling card and the national identity card before giving her a 46cm long ballot paper with 22 names of candidates.
Officials apply indelible ink on the index finger of a voter as a means to prevent them from impersonating others and voting more than once at the election in which 14.08 million people are eligible to cast their ballots.
Elsewhere, police briefly detained a key opposition lawmaker and 40 of his supporters who were driving through Vavuniya heading to the northern peninsula of Jaffna where a bomb attack was reported early Tuesday.
"This is intimidation and a clear attempt to block us from trying to prevent irregularities in Tamil areas," Vijitha Herath told reporters.
A private election monitoring group, the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, confirmed that voting began peacefully despite pre-dawn bomb blasts in the northern peninsula of Jaffna. There were no casualties.
Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2006 Ballots are being counted in Sri Lanka, after a presidential election was held there, the first after the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated during a 25-year-long civil war.

The incumbent president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is expected to be in a close race against former army chief, General Sarath Fonseka; both candidates say they expect to win. There are twenty other candidates on the ballot, but none of them are expected to win.

Polls closed at 16.00 local time, or 10.30 GMT on Tuesday. There were claims of voter intimidation and sporadic acts of violence, and the BBC reports that there were some small bomb blasts. The independent operating organisation Centre for Monitoring Election Violence said it had confirmed close to a hundred violent incidents during the day, adding that it believes the number could rise to 150.

Tamil politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan, however, described the voting as "very peaceful".

Polls were reportedly busy, with stations in the capital of Colombo being filled with lines of people half an hour before polls officially opened at 07.00 (01.30 UTC).

"I have been voting at this booth for over 20 years but never saw a crowd like this," said  businessman Mohamed Sallel, who had voted in the Borella district of the capital, as quoted by The Telegraph. Another voter, Doctor Nimalka Perera, gave an account of the crowds: "When I first came here, the queue was too long so I went back and came two hours later on my way to the hospital and found the line even longer."  

President Rajapakse, after voting in his home constituency, addressed reporters. "We will have a great victory. We must be ready to face the challenges of reaching new heights after this vote," he said.

Fonseka, however, wasn't able to cast a ballot, apparently because his name didn't appear on the 2008 electroral register used for the elections.

"My name is not on the 2008 register and therefore I cannot vote at this election. The government is trying to use this to mislead the public at the last minute," Fonseka stated, saying that he had filled out his voter registration forms.

Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama, as well as other politicians from the ruling party, suggested that Fonseka might be disqualified from the elections. "We are seeking a court order on the suitability of this candidate because he is not eligible to be declared as a candidate," Bogollagama said, adding that the government wanted a ruling from the courts.

Independent elections commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake, however, remarked: "Not having one's name on the electoral list is not a disqualification."

The country's electoral rules state that if neither candidate is able to obtain half of the ballots cast in the first count, then voters' second preferences are to be used to determine the winner. Political observers commented that election was too close to call between the two.