Wickremesinghe, 66, who will be sworn in as new Prime Minister tomorrow, said he will continue the mandate for good governance given in parliamentary polls and work together with all parties in a national government for 2-3 years.
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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.
While stopping short of proclaiming victory for his party in Monday’s legislative elections, Wickremesinghe said the outcome was an endorsement of the “January 8 revolution”, referring to the defeat of long-time leader Mahinda Rajapakse in a presidential poll.
Sri Lanka’s prime minister has defeated the country’s former strongman in parliamentary elections, blocking his attempted political comeback eight months after he lost the presidency.
The Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka concluded on August 18, 2015 as the results were declared for the 15 Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Ahead of the vote, Rajapaksa had expressed confidence his SLFP was set to make a comeback, despite his personal popularity being sapped in recent years by accusations that during his time in power he presided over widespread human rights abuses. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Front (UNF) won the election.
Issuing a special statement, President Maithripala Sirisena said that the current elections have been the most peaceful in independent Sri Lanka. “I invite all of you to join hands with us to face the challenges of our mission”, Wickremesinghe said.
Election officials said the UNP had bagged 11 of the 22 districts from where results were available.
Sirisena followed up by suspending over 20 central committee members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main constituent party of the UPFA, which both Sirisena and Rajapaksa represent.
The new president appointed then opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister of a minority government.
Ethnic Tamil political parties that may hold the balance of power are unlikely to support Rajapaksa due to his role in a bloody civil war that ended in 2009.
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However, the UNP is expected to have enough seats to form a national unity government, backed by Mr Sirisena’s allies.
