Sri Lanka's ruling party wins most local elections, loses capital

Oct 9, 2011, 5:08 GMT

Colombo - Sri Lanka's ruling party secured convincing victories in Saturday's local elections, but was defeated in the capital city that is dominated by minorities, officials said.

The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of President Mahinda Rajapaksa won 21 of the 23 council elections in the third phase of municipal voting.

Elections for some 300 councils were held on a staggered basis since March, and the UPFA has won more than two-thirds of them.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) won the voting in in Colombo, where more than 50 per cent of the voters are minority Tamils or Muslims.

The UNP won 43 per cent of the vote against 32 per cent for the UPFA in the capital.

The UPFA prevailed in most other councils, but its margins over the UNP were narrow in areas dominated by minorities.

In the previous phase, Rajapaksa's party lost 20 of 23 councils in the former war-torn northern region dominated by ethnic Tamils.

The president's popularity remained high in other parts of the country dominated by the majority Sinhala community, largely due to the military victory against Tamil separatist rebels in May 2009.

Armed supporters of two rival members of the ruling party clashed on the outskirts of the capital on election day.

The president's advisor on trade union activities, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, and three others were killed, while UPFA member of parliament Duminda Silva was in critical condition.