In a country where presidents are sworn in and governments are sacked at astrologically auspicious times, Sri Lanka's seers are seeing their own fortunes rise ahead of next week's elections.

With opinion polls still in their infancy in Sri Lanka, fortune-tellers are in high demand ahead of the April 2 parliamentary election, with the 6,024 candidates keen to know where their stars lie.

"Astrology plays a crucial role in politics and particularly at election time," said soothsayer Ariyarathne Hewapathirana.

"Politicians are busy getting horoscopes read and buy lucky charms to fight evil influences."

Hewapathirana, who is also a consultant to a group of astrologers seeking to preserve their profession, said that while legislator hopefuls paid through their noses for talismans and good readings, many of the supposed seers were fakes.

More affluent politicians from the island seek out astrologers from neighbouring India instead, hoping for a neutral prediction from an outsider.

A former Sri Lankan president was once reported to have commissioned charmers from the southern Indian state of Kerala to help him ward off an impeachment attempt.

The politically influential here traditionally keep family astrologers, much like family doctors, to advise on choosing a marriage partner, starting a business or even before deciding when to start a foreign visit.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga's close aide Mangala Samaraweera is on record saying that the head of state attends to important matters of state at auspicious times and notes it is a tradition of her predecessors.

The publicity mileage from predictions is seized upon by political parties to influence undecided voters among the 12.8 million electorate.

But Hewapathirana said the candidates were expecting strictly favourable forecasts from their seers ahead of the vote, the third parliamentary poll in four years -- and are canny about what they give away.

"No leader will publicly declare his actual time of birth because a rival can take that information, prepare a birth chart and see what lies in store for him and initiate counter-measures," he said.

He lamented that a majority of "astrologers" in the country earned their fortunes by preying on the gullible.

But fortunes can also turn against the fortune-tellers. After the last parliamentary vote in 2001, some astrologers went into hiding as their predictions proved wrong.

The English-language Island newspaper commented at the time that Sri Lanka's obsession with astrologers might make outsiders think the island was driven by "loony politics".

An astrological paper, Ira Handa (Sun and Moon), apologised after the last election for rigging predictions in favour of the president's party, which was swept out of power.

This time around, the state-run Daily News, which is controlled by Kumaratunga, said that a seer had predicted victory for her party as her horoscope was powerful.

But another astrologer later disagreed with the Daily News, saying Kumaratunga's horoscope could not be used as she herself was not running in the election.