Sri Lankans began casting their votes today to elect the country's new parliament in the first post-LTTE election. Polling got off to a moderate start on Thursday morning with 20 per cent of the electorate turning out to vote in the first four hours of polling, which commenced at 7:00 a m. President Mahinda Rajapaksa looking to consolidate his position against a tattered opposition cast his vote from the Southern Hambantota district.The former Prime Minister and opposition United National Front chief Ranil Wickremasinghe voted from Colombo in the 14th Parliamentary elections. Detained former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, heading the JVP-dominated Democratic National Alliance will, however, not be able to cast his vote as his name does not figure in the voters list. In strife-torn Jaffna and other Northern areas, the centre of the three-decade war that ended with the death of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in May last year, polling began at a weak note. Polling ends at 4.00 pm and the counting is scheduled to commence at midnight at 1,387 counting centres. Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said, the first election result is likely to be released by midnight or in the wee hours of tomorrow.