VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan 26, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, for decades in the crossfire between rebels and government forces, hope their potentially decisive role in Tuesday's election will finally bring them peace.

The two main candidates, President Mahinda Rajapakse and former general Sarath Fonseka, 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 clouded by allegations of war crimes, an estimated 300,000 displaced Tamils were locked up until December in closed camps to which media and humanitarian groups were denied access.

In a twist of fate, they might now emerge as kingmakers according to some political analysts, if Rajapakse and Fonseka split the vote of the majority Sinhalese ethnic group to which they both belong.

Tamils interviewed by AFP in Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, located near some of the camps, appeared to be strongly leaning towards Fonseka, seeing him as the better of two imperfect options.

"They (Tamils) feel General Fonseka might treat them better, like equal citizens," said T. Jathukulatharam, who lives and teaches in one of the camps. "The Rajapakse government has not treated our community well. They kept us in camps for months in very bad living conditions."

Rajapakse, a Sinhalese nationalist, has proposed power-sharing arrangements to give Tamils a greater say in the legislature, a key demand in their quest for autonomy.

Fonseka meanwhile has promised to release Tamil properties occupied by security forces, free war detainees and lift strict security measures in place across their areas.

He has been endorsed by the moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) party which sits in his varied coalition of Muslims, Marxists and right-wingers.

Buddhist priest Moragoda Dhammananda at the Sri Bodhi Dhakshinaramaya temple in Vavuniya has worked among Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities in and around Vavuniya for two decades.

He said he was surprised by the strong support for Fonseka.

"The Tamil minority on whose behalf the Tigers fought seem to favour General Fonseka," Dhammananda said.

"It was the president who led the war against them (Tamils) and Fonseka was his main commander. They seem to think that the president is the greater enemy."

Tamils, who make up 12.5 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million, are mostly Hindu, with sizeable Muslim and Christian communities. They have a language and culture native to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The Sinhalese make up about three-quarters of the population and are mostly Buddhist.

Questions remain over the influence of the Tamil vote - including whether many in the war-ravaged north and east are registered and able to cast their ballot, and the extent to which apathy and intimidation will affect turnout.

The opposition has accused Rajapakse's ruling party of planning a violent campaign to intimidate voters into staying home - a charge denied by the government.

Several blasts rocked the Tamil heartland of Jaffna early Tuesday after bombs reportedly targeted the house of a ruling party activist.

Less than a sixth, or 45,732, of Sri Lanka's war-displaced civilians had applied to vote in Tuesday's ballot, according to official figures. The government says it was forced to lock up the displaced to screen them for Tiger rebels. It also denies charges that civilian areas were indiscriminately targeted during the fighting.

Despite pressure from the UN and rights bodies, Rajapakse has insisted it was unsafe for Tamil civilians to return home until de-mining had taken place and other ordnance had been removed from conflict zones.

Seema Letchchami, a 75-year-old who fled her home in the northern district of Kilinochchi in 2005 and again in 2008, said she was backing Fonseka, but she hoped that whoever wins will help her return home.

She and her family of five live in plastic shelters in the state-run internment camps.

"Politicians from every party have been promising to send us home, but we are still here.

"I want to go back, to do some casual work and die peacefully in my hometown. I pray for that," she said as she offered white jasmine flowers at a roadside Hindu shrine.