Colombo: Sri Lanka's National People's Power (NPP) led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a resounding victory in Friday's parliamentary elections, securing a two-thirds majority and dominating the Jaffna electoral district, the heartland of the nation's Tamil minority.
The NPP coalition, contesting under the Malimawa (compass) symbol, claimed 159 out of the 225 seats in Parliament, according to the latest figures from the election commission. The NPP garnered more than 6.8 million votes, or 61 per cent of the total counted, taking a commanding lead over its rivals, PTI reported.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), led by Sajith Premadasa, finished a distant second with 40 seats. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) secured 8 seats, the New Democratic Front 5, and both the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress won 3 seats each.
The turnout for Thursday's poll was the lowest since 2010. Dissanayake had called for the snap elections shortly after his presidential victory in September. The new parliament is scheduled to convene next week.
In a historic outcome, Dissanayake’s left-wing alliance triumphed in Jaffna, defeating traditional Tamil nationalist parties in the cultural centre of the Tamil community. This is the first time a predominantly Sinhala party from the island’s south has achieved such a result in Jaffna. The United National Party (UNP) had previously secured just one seat in the district.
The NPP received more than 80,000 votes in Jaffna, outpacing ITAK, which garnered just over 63,000 votes in the final count. As a result, three seats in the district were won by Dissanayake's party, while ITAK, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), and Independent Group 17 each won one seat.
This outcome in Jaffna underscores the new president's pre-election assertion that his party has been embraced as a truly national force by all communities. "The era of dividing and setting one community against the other has ended. People are now embracing the NPP," he had declared.
Historically, the NPP, originally known as Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), had staunchly opposed power-sharing—a key demand of Tamil groups during the armed separatist struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lanka went to the polls amid a period of recovery from a severe economic crisis.