The final phase of local elections in Sri Lanka opened on Saturday with 1.5 million voters registered for the polls in 23 municipalities. President Mahinda Rajapaksa''s United People''s Freedom Alliance has won more than two-thirds of the 300 local councils in elections held in the first phases in March and July. The ruling party''s popularity has been high since the defeat of the separatist Tamil rebels in May 2009, ending a 26-year war. But the party failed to win a majority of local councils in the Tamil-dominated northern region that experienced the brunt of the ethnic conflict.