<br/>Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa is ahead in the results released so far in the 2010 Presidential elections with 59.73 percent of the votes while his rival General Sarath Fonseka has obtained 38.71 percent of the votes so far.<br/><br/>Contrary to fears expressed, the first peacetime presidential election, following the defeat of the LTTE last May, was held on Tuesday without any serious incidents of violence, though there were some reports of explosions before the polling started in the Jaffna peninsula and other minor incidents in some other areas.<br/><br/>The police and the military said that heavy presence of law enforcement personnel backed by security forces had ensured a peaceful environment.<br/><br/>Independent Election monitors, too, said the election had been largely peaceful barring minor incidents of violence.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka military claims that several army deserters are holed up at a leading Colombo hotel and troops have been deployed to surround the hotel to ensure law and order is maintained.<br/><br/>Speaking to AIR Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakara, a short while ago, claimed that the at least 400 deserters with weapons are at the hotel with opposition members including those backing General Sarath Fonseka.<br/><br/>He said that this has resulted in the security establishment deploying troops to surround the hotel last night.<br/><br/>The Fonseka camp stated that the parties supporting the common opposition candidate were at the hotel and did not consist of any army deserters.<br/><br/>According to reliable sources, Leader of the opposition Ranil Wickremsinghe is also present along with Sarath Fonseka. Mr Nanayakkara said they are not targeting retired four-star general Fonseka, and he is free to leave the hotel and added that the army is persuading the deserters to come out of the hotel.<br/>