Colombo, Feb. 8 (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s President called snap elections to try to unseat her bitter rival the Prime Minister, but whoever triumphs, it appeared unlikely to revive stalled peace talks with the Tamil rebels.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who takes a harder line against the rebels than Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, dissolved parliament yesterday and set a vote for April 2 — three years early and the third general election in four years.

A two-year-old ceasefire is expected to hold, but the poll will delay efforts to end a two-decade civil war that has killed 64,000 people.

The President called the election in a bid to break an angry stalemate with Wickremesinghe over how to handle the peace process with the ethnic minority Tamil Tiger rebels, who walked out of talks 10 months ago.

“The elections will not provide an answer, no matter who wins,” Jehan Perera, media director at the non-partisan National Peace Council, said.

He said that if the Left-leaning Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance wins, talks will be complicated by her recent pact with the People’s Liberation Front (JVP), ultra-nationalists who oppose any concessions made to the rebels.

If the Prime Minister’s United National Party (UNP) wins, the status quo continues — and he faces a powerful President, whose job is not up for election and who suspects he would compromise security to make peace.

Many business leaders had opposed the widely expected poll, saying the President’s alliance was less market-friendly.

Analysts and newspapers predicted a close vote but said that the President’s alliance had momentum going into the race.

“The President has called an election so that whichever party wins gets a clear mandate to continue the peace process,” her office said.