As Sri Lanka heads to the polling booths today to make a significant decision on whether to cement the "new era of politics" that has risen with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, his recently made promises reverberate through the island nation's northeastern provinces.

Tamil farmers and activists in Sri Lanka have faced years of land grabs and livestock killings fueled by state-backed projects. Many see these actions as a continued push toward Sinhalization — a strategy to establish majoritarian Sinhala-Buddhist dominance in the aftermath of decades of civil war.

The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won a majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a solid mandate for his program for economic revival.