Sri Lankan election worker marks a voter's finger as a sign of participation in elections in Colombo October 10, 2000 as polling begins in crucial parliamentary elections widely seen as a referendum on [President Chandrika Kumaratunga's] ambitious peace plan aimed at ending the country's protracted ethnic conflict. Some 12 million voters are expected to chose from among 128 political parties, fielding more than 5,000 candidates for the 225-seat parliament.