Khaleej Times

Rajapaksa party on course to big poll win

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colombo — Sri Lanka’s ruling party took a clear lead on Thursday in early results from parliament­ary elections in which the dominant Rajapaksa family hopes to strengthen their grip on power.

Counting in the island’s south showed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) with 72 per cent of the vote.

Since the prime minister’s younger brother Gotabaya won a presidenti­al election in November, Sri Lankans have largely embraced the family’s populist platform.

The brothers are viewed as heroes by the country’s Sinhalese majority for orchestrat­ing a ruthless military campaign to end a decades-long Tamil separatist war in 2009 under the leadership of Mahinda.

Early results on Thursday from postal ballot counts showed the main opposition SJB gleaned just 13 per cent of the vote, while the leftist JJB party had eight per cent and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesi­nghe’s United National Party just four.

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