By Xinhua,
Colombo : Sri Lankan government officials said Sunday that the ruling party’s comprehensive win in Saturday’s provincial council elections was an endorsement of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s anti-terrorism campaign.
Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition won both the elections in North Central Provincial Council and Sabaragamuva Provincial Council held on Saturday.
In both councils, the UPFA garnered around 55 percent of the vote while the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was reduced to under 40 percent.
“This is a clear endorsement of the president’s anti-terrorism campaign plus his development work during the last three years,” Anura Yapa, the minister of Media and Information told the media.
“The opposition has been completely routed,” Mahindananda Aluthgamage, the deputy minister of Power said.
“People have clearly given the backing to the president’s campaign against the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam),” Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha said.
In the final result for the 44-member Sabaragamuva or south eastern provincial council, the UPFA won 25 seats while the UNP won 17 seats and the main left party, the JVP (People’s Liberation Front) gained two seats.
In the 33 member North Central Provincial Council, the UPFA won20 seats, while the UNP and the JVP finished with 12 seats and one seat respectively.
Rajapakse since being elected president in late 2005 have carried out a relentless military campaign against LTTE rebels.
His troops have evicted the rebels from Eastern Province and are now on the verge of eliminating them completely off Northern Province, according to the government.
Rajapakse called the two elections 14 months ahead of the schedule in order to test the public mood on his campaign against the LTTE, which he has dubbed a humanitarian operation to relieve the Tamil minority from the terror waged by the LTTE.
The elections came after the ruling party won the Province Council election in Eastern Province in May.