By DPA,
Colombo : The ruling party in Sri Lanka led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared to be heading for a convincing victory in the parliamentary elections, officials said Friday.
According to results announced by Friday morning, Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had recorded 692,096 votes or 61.08 percent. The United National Party, the main opposition party, had 304,693 votes or 26.89 percent.
The ruling party, buoyed by the military victory against the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the long-running civil war last year, won the presidential election in January.
The results of 35 of the 160 constituencies have been announced so far but only six of them have been won by the opposition while provisional results in others indicated that the UPFA was heading for victory.
The UPFA has been campaigning for a two-thirds majority of 150 members in the 225-seat parliament, but it was not immediately clear whether they could reach that target in Thursday’s election.
A political party campaigning on behalf of the former army commander who is currently in military custody was trailing the two main parties.
General Sarath Fonseka has been in custody since Feb 8 on charges of conspiracy against the government and for committing fraud in military procurements. Fonseka ran as the combined opposition presidential candidate against Rajapaksa in January after a falling-out with the president.
However, according to results released so far, there was no indication that the Democratic National Alliance backing Fonseka had been able to gain any sympathy votes over the arrest of the general who spearheaded the military campaign against the Tamil rebels.
At Thursday’s elections some 14 million people were registered to vote, but only an estimated 55 percent of them turned out.
The turnout was considered low compared to the January presidential elections in which 74 percent voted and the last parliamentary elections in which 75 percent voted.
The final results were expected later Friday.