The United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, has won the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections held on Monday.
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Rajapakse accepted that his United People’s Freedom Alliance had lost even before Elections Chief Mahinda Deshapriya could announce the final results.
Rajapaksa had been plotting a political comeback ever since he was dealt a shock defeat in the midterm presidential election he called earlier this year, losing to former ally Maithripala Sirisena to end to his decade-long tenure at the country’s helm.
Earlier this week Sirisena sent a letter to Rajapaksa, which he also released to the media, saying he would not appoint him prime minister even if he secures a majority in Parliament. “I ask the people to celebrate our victory peacefully, ” he told reporters after voting at his native village in southern Sri Lanka.
A top aide to the prime minister said the statement amounted to a de facto declaration of victory but Wickremesinghe did not want to strike a triumphant tone.
Tamil minority party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), won 14 seats, winning in the country’s war-torn north of Jaffna District while Sri Lanka’s Marxist group, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, got four seats.
In Sri Lanka, the prime minister acts for the president when he is absent and replaces him if he is impeached, incapacitated or dies.
On Monday, over 60 percent voters turned up to elect a new prime minister in the island nation, reported Xinhua.
However UNP will have to seek support from other parties to form a majority government with 113 seats in hand.
“The majority of the people of this country have approved the continuance of good governance and consensual politics endorsed by the people through the silent revolution of 8th of January”, Wickremesinghe said in a statement, according to Daily Mirror.
Rajapakse secured a seat in the parliament by standing from the north-western district of Kurunegala after ditching his home constituency of Hambantota where three of his close family members contested.
He forecast that the UNP would win 11 districts – enough to form a minority government.
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Sirisena, 63, used his power to suspend the general secretaries of the party and its poll alliance, both Rajapaksa men, just before the election.
