Ranil Wickremesinghe to return as Sri Lankan PM

Colombo, August 18

Vanquished Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hopes of staging a political comeback were shattered when his party lost a closely-fought parliamentary election to incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday.

The premier’s United National Party (UNP) won a total of 106 seats in the 225-member assembly, just falling short of an absolute majority by seven seats but enough to form a government.

Rajapaksa’s United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) came second, securing 95 seats while the minority Tamil National Alliance (TNA) swept the ethnic Tamil-majority Northern and Eastern provinces with 16 seats.

Election analysts had predicted the UNP will fall short of an absolute majority of 113 by just four seats.

The 69-year-old two-time president, Rajapaksa, was quoted as saying that he conceded defeat "after a good fight".

President Maithripala Sirisena, who defeated Rajapaksa in the January 8 presidential polls, had earlier vowed not to make the former strongman premier even if his UPFA secures a majority.

Prime Minister-designate Wickremesinghe said the victory achieved by his UNP was a mandate given by the people for good governance.

“I offer my grateful thanks to all parties and individuals who worked untiringly during the election period to ensure victory for the people. We have been able to create a peaceful atmosphere needed for a free and fair election,” the 66-year-old leader said.

He said people have backed the "revolution" achieved in January and want that to continue.

“We have to unitedly work towards lifting the nation to a new height by facing challenges of the new era. I invite all of you to join hands with us to face the challenges of our mission,” Wickremesinghe said.

He was set to take oath in a simple ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat while the cabinet of national government was to be appointed later.

A group of Sirisena supporters is likely to join a broad-based national unity government led by Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as premier soon after the former came to power.

Sirisena was Rajapaksa's health minister until he came forward as the opposition unity candidate to challenge the then president last year.

A total of 196 Parliament members are elected for a five-year term while 29 are appointed based on the national proportion of votes polled by each party. — PTI