Sri Lankan President Dissanayake’s NPP coalition sweeps parliamentary elections, makes history in Jaffna- The Week

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) coalition swept the parliamentary elections by winning a two-thirds majority.

The NPP coalition secured 159 out of the 225 seats in the parliament, as per 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 lead over its opposition.

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

Thursday’s poll saw the lowest turnout since 2010.

Shortly after winning the elections in September, Dissanayake announced the snap polls.

The new parliament is now set to meet next week.

NPP coalition also made history in the Jaffna electoral district, which is a Tamil-dominated district. Earlier, the United National Party had won a solitary seat in the district.

This is the first time that a predominantly Sinhala party from the country’s south has notched this achievement.

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 era of dividing and setting one community against the other has ended as people are embracing the NPP,” Dissanayake had said during his election campaign.

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.

Dissanayake required a clear majority to deliver his promise to combat corruption and restore stability after the island’s worst-ever economic crisis.

Out of the 225 seats in the parliament, 196 MPs were directly elected. The rest were nominated by parties based on the percentage of votes they got in what is known as proportional representation.