Lankan president's party sweeps parliamentary polls

Sri Lanka's National People's Power of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Friday swept the parliamentary elections by winning a two-thirds majority, and also dominating the Jaffna electoral district -- the heartland of the nation's Tamil minority.

IMAGE: Sri Lanka's President and National People's Power (NPP) party leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake gestures as he leaves after casting his vote on the day of the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on November 14, 2024. Photograph: Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters

The NPP coalition, which contested under the Malimawa (compass) symbol, secured 159 out of the 225 seats in the parliament, according to the latest results on the election commission website.

The NPP received over 6.8 million or 61 per cent of the votes counted, taking a commanding lead over its rivals.

Sri Lanka's Samagi Jana Balawegaya headed by Sajith Premadasa was a distant second with 40 seats. Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi got 8 seats, New Democratic Front 5, and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 3 each.

Thursday's poll saw the lowest turnout since 2010.

Dissanayake had announced the snap polls shortly after his election as president in September.

The new parliament is now set to meet next week.

The left-leaning president's alliance made history in the Jaffna electoral district as it trounced traditional Tamil nationalist parties in the cultural capital of the community.

This is the first time that a predominantly Sinhala party from the country's south has notched this achievement. Previously, the United National Party had won a solitary seat in the district.

The NPP won more than 80,000 votes in the district, outperforming Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) which got a little over 63,000 votes in the final count.

Accordingly, three seats in the district went to Dissanayake's party.

The ITAK, All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), and Independent Group 17 won one seat each.

The result in this northern district resonates with the new president's pre-election claim that his party has been accepted as a truly national party by all communities.

"The era of dividing and setting one community against the other has ended as people are embracing the NPP," he had said.

The NPP under its original Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) avatar had violently opposed any attempt at power-sharing -- a key Tamil demand during the armed separatist campaign of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lanka went to polls as it emerged from economic crises.