“I also wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the activists and the people’s representatives of our party who worked indefatigably in the election campaign”.
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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) secured 106 seats, short of a majority in the 225-member assembly but enough to form a government.
A political party or a coalition must have at least 113 seats to be able to form a government, meaning Wickremesinghe will have to seek some support.
Election Commissioner Deshapriya said he expected the release of the final party positions by midday Tuesday, while individual votes garnered by candidates would be announced later.
Rajapaksa’s return was the highlight of Sri Lanka’s poll with many of his supporters expressing confidence on him returning to power as a prime minister after losing the presidency in a January 2015 election.
Sirisena broke away from Rajapaksa’s Cabinet previous year and won an upset victory in the January 8 presidential election with support from Wickremesinghe, who was opposition leader at the time.
“I have got a mandate to put before parliament our plan so that we could arrive at a consensus and build a national framework within which we will do our policy”, he said.
However, the 69-year-old politician soon backtracked through his official Twitter account, saying he was waiting for the official result.
Wickremasinghe was set to take oath in a simple ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat while the cabinet of national government was to be appointed later.
UNP led by incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe emerged the victor with his alliance taking 45 percent of the vote cast, or about 51 lakh votes.
As in January, when Rajapaksa reportedly tried to cling to power even after results showed he had lost, the ex-strongman did not go down without some drama.
Early in the morning, UPFA leader and ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat. The SLFP-led alliance would win nine districts and the Tamil National Alliance, a regional minority party, three.
He was hailed by many in among the country’s majority Sinhalese ethnic population as a warrior king for defeating Tamil Tiger separatists to end a almost 26-year civil war.
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The former health minister united a fractured opposition to pull off an unlikely victory against Rajapakse, who has seen a welter of corruption accusations levelled against him and his close relatives since leaving office.
