By DPA,
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also heads the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) which recorded a resounding victory in parliamentary elections, Saturday thanked voters for the strong mandate.
“I had requested all Sri Lankans to elect a strong parliament that could face any international challenge and accordingly a distinguished, historic parliamentary election victory for UPFA has been recorded,” Rajapaksa said in a statement.
The UPFA has so far returned 117 members to the 225-seat parliament with the results of two more districts and the number of nominated members to be announced.
Of the 225 members, only 196 are directly elected while the remaining 29 will be chosen based on the proportion of the vote the respective parties received.
The delay in completing the final announcement is due to a decision to have a repoll in two constituencies following allegations of irregularities.
However, Rajapaksa’s party was heading for a near two-thirds majority of 150 members. Provisional figures estimate that the UPFA will return over 135 members.
“All Sri Lankans have fulfilled a sacred duty reposing faith in me and the UPFA. We are duty bound to preserve the trust placed in us. We propose to make this historic victory an opportunity to build an exemplary government on the road to building the miracle nation,” the president said.
The main opposition, the United National Party, received 2.3 million votes, less than 30 percent of the total, and so far has returned 46 members to parliament. The UPFA received 4.7 million votes or 60.43 percent.
The ruling party, buoyed by the military victory last year against the separatist rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a 26-year civil war, also won the presidential election in January.
General Sarath Fonseka, the former army commander who has been in military custody since Feb 8, shortly after he lost to Rajapaksa in the presidential election, has been elected to parliament. Fonseka faces charges of conspiracy against the government and fraud in military procurements
He was a candidate of a Marxist alliance known as the Democratic National Alliance (DNA).
In Thursday’s elections, 14 million people were registered to vote, and an estimated 55 percent of them turned out.
The turnout was considered low compared with the January presidential elections, in which 74 percent voted, and with the previous parliamentary elections, in which 75 percent voted.