Colombo, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's ruling coalition has suffered a shocking defeat in local elections as the party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa registered a landslide victory.

After the final results, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had won 44.65 percent of the vote.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) garnered 32.63 percent while the President Maithripala Sirisena's UPFA (United People's Freedom Alliance) came a distant third with 8.94 percent of the vote.

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This is the first local elections since the centre-left UPFA and centre-right UNP parties formed a unity government in August 2015.

The UNP however, won the Colombo Municipal Council comfortably, with Rosy Senanayake becoming the first female mayor of Sri Lanka's capital city.

Saturday's result has surprised many Sri Lankan political analysts and is being considered a blow to the ruling coalition that has been roiled by political bickering in recent months.

President Sirisena was particularly critical of the UNP in their handling of the economy. Many UNP ministers publicly criticised the president.

The coalition infighting was clearly evident during the campaign trail, as both the coalition partners contested against each other.

'Broken promises'

It is reported that following a meeting with the UNP parliamentary group on Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe indicated that his party will continue with the ruling coalition until 2020.

The SLPP, formed by breakaway members of Sirisena's party, attacked the unity coalition for what it called "broken promises" and corruption.

The election was contested for the first time using a complex system that mixed both the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems.

Vidura Wickramanayaka, a member of parliament now aligned with the SLPP, told Al Jazeera that even though this was a local election, "this is tantamount to a national election, if you look at the political platforms, the issues that were discussed were national issues".

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If parliamentary elections were held in the near future "this trend will continue", Wickramanayaka said referring to the potential that the SLPP could return the largest number of MPs.

Sirisena was an unexpected presidential contestant when he was chosen as the common candidate to contest the presidential elections against the then incumbent Rajapaksa.

He eventually went on to win 2015 presidential elections on an anti-corruption platform and promising to bring in constitutional reform and "Yahapalanaya" or good governance.

"The mandate received by the government in 2015, was for governance - reforms, swift action regarding accusation of corruption levelled at Rajapaksa, less radicalism regarding constitutional reforms and continuation of the developmental policies of the Rajapaksa regime," Kalana Senaratne, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

"However, there have been no visible action against the corrupt."

The 19th amendment to the Constitution bars Rajapaksa from another presidential bid. Many observers expect his brother, the once powerful Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to launch a presidential bid.

With just two years before the next parliamentary elections, and Rajapaksa in the ascendancy, many political observers expect trouble to grow within the ruling coalition.</s>Colombo, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's ruling coalition is on course to suffer a shocking defeat in local elections as the party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to register a landslide victory.

At 1:30pm local time (19:00 GMT), with most results in, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had won 44.05 percent of the vote.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) garnered 31.65 percent while the President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) came a distant third with 9.52 percent of the vote.

This is the first local elections since the centre-left SLFP and centre-right UNP parties formed a unity government in August 2015.

The UNP however, is expected to win the Colombo Municipal Council comfortably, with Rosy Senanayake set to become the first female mayor of Sri Lanka's capital city.

Saturday's result has surprised many Sri Lankan political analysts and is being considered a blow to the ruling coalition that has been roiled by political bickering in recent months.

President Sirisena was particularly critical of the UNP in their handling of the economy. Many UNP ministers publicly criticised the president.

The coalition infighting was clearly evident during the campaign trail, as both the coalition partners contested against each other.</s>COLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on Monday for parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections to be held after a party backed by him won local council polls in the strongest rebuff yet to the unity government.

The national election is not due until 2020 and under the constitution, President Maithripala Sirisena can bring the vote forward only after two-thirds of parliament endorses it.

But Rajapaksa, who crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels in a 26-year civil war before he was ousted in 2015, said the coalition government led by Sirisena`s party and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe`s group had lost the people`s confidence.

"These results show people want a change now. The government has lost its mandate," he told a news conference.

Rajapaksa`s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) won control of 231 local councils out of a total 340 while Wickremasinghe`s centre-right United National Party (UNP) took 34 councils and the rest were split among other parties.

The political uncertainty hurt sentiment on the Colombo Stock Exchange index, pushing it down 0.37 percent at close.

Sri Lanka`s rupee fell 0.5 percent to hit a record low of 155.00/20 per dollar, surpassing its previous all-time low of 154.60/70 hit last week.

Rajapaksa`s campaign targeted an uptick in inflation, higher taxes imposed by the government and its moves to privatise state assets.

"To overcome this economic crisis, we are urging the government to hold parliamentary elections immediately in order to set up a stable government," Rajapaksa said.

As the surprise results came out over the weekend, political analysts said there was a possibility that some lawmakers from Sirisena`s party, which performed the worst, could defect.

Rajapaksa, who was accused of corruption, nepotism, and mismanagement of the economy during his term, has since rallied his support base of rural Sinhala Buddhists to make a political comeback.</s>COLOMBO (Reuters) - A political party backed by Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa looks set for a landslide victory in local polls, results showed on Sunday, potentially undermining the island nation’s unity government and its reform agenda.

The unexpectedly strong showing could lead to defections away from the centre-left party led by President Maithripala Sirisena, a partner in the country’s coalition government, analysts said, creating instability in the legislature.

The local polls were the first elections since the unity government of Sirisena’s centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s centre-right United National Party (UNP) took office in August 2015.

Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a party formed by breakaway members of Sirisena’s party, had won control of 223 local councils out of a total 328 that had declared results as of 1545 GMT. The UNP took control of 42 councils and SLFP 10.

Results for a further 42 local councils have not yet been announced.

The local elections were long delayed. The councils were dissolved more than two years ago after their tenure ended.

“Rajapaksa’s electoral performance comes as a surprise and will be problematic for President Sirisena,” Shailesh Kumar, director with political risk consultants Eurasia Group, told Reuters.

Dinesh Gunawardena, an SLPP legislator, told reporters in Colombo the Sirisena “government has lost the people’s mandate and should resign now”.

Family members of Rajapaksa, now a legislator on the opposition benches, are facing corruption charges ranging from misappropriation of state properties to unexplainable assets

Two of Rajapaksa’s sons, Namal and Yoshitha, have been arrested and released on bail over money laundering allegations.

His brother, Basil, who headed the economic development ministry, has also been arrested at least three times - twice over suspicion of misuse of anti-poverty funds and once over suspicion of laundering money and released on bail.

All three men deny any wrongdoing.

“The Rajapaksas will try to use this victory and destabilise the government to cover up their corruption charges,” Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told Reuters. “But we will stand united and maintain political stability in parliament.”

Rajapaksa, 72, commands the backing of 54 members of parliament who have defected from Sirisena’s party. The president’s party has 41 legislators and the prime minister’s party commands 106 MPs in the 225-member parliament.

“The parliament is likely to see defections, and Rajapaksa will call the shots,” Kusal Perera, a local political columnist, told Reuters.

Lakshman Yapa Abeyawardene, a junior minister in Sirisena’s party, said the president had discussed the situation with members of his SLFP and had said the results represented a vote against the prime minister’s reform agenda.

“The president wanted to tell the media that he is going to make a big change,” he told Reuters, without elaborating.

Rajapaksa campaigned against the government’s failure to curb the cost of living and to take action against corruption, as well as against higher taxes, the privatisation of state assets, and reduced welfare for the poor and retired soldiers.

The government has promised a new constitution that devolves power, the facilitation of an international probe into alleged war crimes during the final phase of a 26-year civil war, IMF-backed fiscal discipline and post-war reconciliation.

However, it has yet to deliver on these reforms or on promised anti-corruption measures.

The two coalition parties’ unexpected defeat follows a bitter fight between them, with each blaming the other for the failures in the run-up to the local polls.

The president and his supporters have opposed or neutralised many of the UNP reforms. Under the constitution, Sirisena cannot dissolve the parliament until early 2020, while the parliament needs a two-thirds majority to impeach the president.

Sirisena has said he wants to take charge of the economy, which is currently handled by the UNP.

Danushka Samarasinghe, research head at Softlogic Stockbrokers said the results could bring more uncertainty to the market and ongoing economic reforms could be overshadowed by parliamentary politics.</s>COLOMBO (Reuters) - A political party backed by Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa looks set for a landslide victory in local polls, early results showed on Sunday, potentially undermining the country’s unity government and its reform agenda.

The unexpectedly strong showing could lead to defections away from the centre-left party led by President Maithripala Sirisena, a partner in the country’s coalition government, analysts said, creating instability in the legislature.

The local polls were the first elections since the unity government of Sirisena’s centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s centre-right United National Party (UNP) took office in August 2015.

Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a party formed by breakaway members of Sirisena’ party, has secured 97 local bodies out of results for 139 councils so far released as at 0650 GMT. The UNP took control of 18 councils and SLFP six.

Results for another 201 local bodies are yet to be released. The long-delayed election comes after the councils were dissolved over two years ago after their tenure ended.

“Rajapaksa’s electoral performance comes as a surprise and will be problematic for President Sirisena,” Shailesh Kumar, director with political risk consultants Eurasia Group told Reuters.

Dinesh Gunawardena, an opposition legislator and member of SLPP, told reporters in Colombo that the Sirisena “government has lost the people’s mandate and should resign now”.

Rajapaksa, a legislator in the opposition benches, commands the backing of 54 legislators who have defected from Sirisena’s party. The president’s party has 41 legislators and the prime minister’s party commands 106 MPs in the 225-member parliament.

“The parliament is likely to see defections and Rajapaksa will call the shots,” Kusal Perera, a local political columnist told Reuters.

Rajapaksa campaigned against the government’s failure to curb the cost of living and to take action against corruption, as well as higher taxes, the privatisation of state assets, and less welfare for the poor and retired soldiers.

The government has promised a new constitution that devolves power, the facilitation of an international probe into alleged war crimes during the final phase of a 26-year civil war, IMF-backed fiscal discipline and post-war reconciliation.

However, it has yet to deliver on these reforms or on promised anti-corruption measures.

The unexpected defeat comes after a bitter fight between the parties led by the president and prime minister, which blamed each other for the failures in the run-up to the local polls.

The president and his supporters have opposed or neutralised many of the UNP reforms. Under the constitution, Sirisena cannot dissolve the parliament until early 2020, while the parliament needs a two-third majority to impeach the president.

Sirisena has said he wants to take charge of the economy, which is currently handled by the UNP, and has blamed the prime minister’s party for failing to tackle corruption.

Danushka Samarasinghe, research head at Softlogic Stockbrokers said the results could bring more uncertainty to the market and ongoing economic reforms could be overshadowed by parliamentary politics.</s>COLOMBO: Former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa's SLPP is heading towards a landslide victory at the local government election garnering, 45 per cent of the majority votes, media reports said.

Sri Lanka's ruling coalition yesterday faced its first polls test with over 15 million eligible voters participating in the election to appoint 340 of the island's 341 local councils, according to officials.

According to the results, the Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP) has garnered 703,117 votes along with 909 seats whereas the United National Party (UNP) has secured 469,986 votes with 459 seats, the Daily Mirror reported.

The SLPP is heading towards a landslide victory at the local government election garnering, 45 per cent of the majority votes, it said.

By morning, out of the 81 councils election results declared, Rajapaksa's SLPP had won 51 councils in an unexpected good show.

Both President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) are trounced.

The UNP had bagged only 10 councils out of the 81 and was in level terms with the north-based Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) who had also bagged 10 councils.

The voter turn out in the poll was expected to cross 65 per cent, election officials said.

Rajapaksa's good show indicates that he may return to the big arena after being sidelined with his January 2015 loss to Sirisena in the presidential election.

The two time president has been voted back with overwhelming support of the Sinhala Buddhist majority who view them as their hero for ending the 30 year separatist war of the LTTE.

In a statement, he thanked the voters and appealed for calm in celebrating the victory.

Sirisena was voted into office on the strength of support mainly from minority Tamil and Muslin communities.

The local polls victory for Rajapaksa may even lead to the change of government with the UNP coming under pressure to resign and sit in opposition once again, analysts say.

Sirisena's relationship with Wickremesinghe, his main supporter when he defeated Rajapaksa in the presidency in 2015, has soured in recent months.

Sirisena has targeted the Wickremesinghe's UNP, dubbing it even more corrupt than the Rajapaksa government of which Sirisena walked out to become the then main opposition challenger.

His faction of the SLFP has been accused of delaying the election out of fear of losing them by the faction led by former president Rajapaksa.

The government had postponed the elections for over 330 local councils in the island nation since 2015 for electoral reforms.

In order to postpone the polls by a year, the government proposed an amendment to the Constitution to hold elections for all nine provincial councils on a single day.

The Supreme Court in September ruled that the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution to hold council elections on a single day requires two-third parliamentary majority and a nationwide referendum.

Also there is a 25 per cent guaranteed women's representation in each council.</s>“The victory is a clear indication that Sri Lankans are fed up of inaction and want to rebuild Sri Lanka,” Mr. Rajapaksa said on his Facebook page.

Analysts warned that a resounding victory by Mr. Rajapaksa’s party — the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (the Sri Lanka People’s Front, or S.L.P.P.) — would have broader consequences than simply weakening the government of President Maithripala Sirisena, which has two years left.

Mr. Sirisena came to power in 2015 with the help of an unlikely coalition of minority groups and as the face of Sri Lankans’ hope that power would be decentralized power, the military and corruption would be reined in, and some of the country’s wounds from the long war would be healed.

But he has not delivered on his promises. And now, critics say, his party’s apparently miserable performance in the local elections — against opponents accused of corruption and abuse — means that the president has missed his chance to carry out his reform agenda.

“This election has made it clear that that window has been closed,” said Jayadeva Uyangoda, former head of the political science department of the University of Colombo. “It’s very difficult to open that window again.”

Mr. Sirisena has led an uneasy coalition government, which he established with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s United National Party in 2015. As the local elections neared, the differences between the two leaders spilled out into the open, with the president frequently attacking United and accusing it of holding back his agenda.

That bickering ended up helping Mr. Rajapaksa, who had never stopped mobilizing in the wings.

“Over the past two years, the coalition government did not do anything significantly new,” Mr. Uyangoda said.

“They had very open disunity, and particularly during the last month of the election campaign, the signal they sent was that this is a government of chaos,” he said. “Obviously, the people then want a strong government. And Rajapaksa is the candidate for a strong ruler, for the stability of governance.”

While the voting on Saturday went smoothly in a country that has experienced violent elections, the Election Commission was slow to release results, as parties demanded recounts in many localities.

The results released so far, and information broadcast by the local news media, suggested that out of 341 local councils total, Mr. Rajapaksa’s S.L.P.P. won 225, the United National Party won 41, and Mr. Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, or S.L.F.P., along with smaller allies, got 14.

For the first time in the country’s history, Sri Lanka required parties to field at least 25 percent female candidates in the elections, hoping the quota would increase the number of women on local councils, where they hold just 2 percent of seats.

Although the impact of the quota was not immediately clear, some neighborhoods reported increased victories by women. Colombo, the capital city, was expected to get its first female mayor after electing Rosy Senanayake, the current deputy head of the prime minister’s office and a former winner of the Mrs. World Pageant.

“It should be 50 percent women, really,” said Dulani Paranawithana, 20, a first-time voter. “But that is difficult to imagine.”

Both governing parties were in soul-searching mode, struggling to figure out their next moves and make changes in time to make sure Mr. Rajapaksa’s party does not ride discontent with the government to victory in the presidential election in 2019. Coalition members were clear that both ruling parties were facing a wave that would be difficult to reverse.

Members of Mr. Sirisena’s team said the president would shake up his cabinet in the coming days.

“This election is a setback, but the majority of Sri Lanka is still anti-Rajapaksa,” said Rajitha Senaratne, Mr. Sirisena’s health minister. “This election has shown that despite everything, the January 8, 2015, coalition, which changed the political culture in this country and ousted the Rajapaksa regime, has remained intact.”

Mr. Seanartne said the election results showed that the combined votes of all other parties, which essentially joined hands in 2015 to defeat Mr. Rajapaksa, were still more than Mr. Rajapaksa’s party’s.

But it was not clear how Mr. Sirisena, long seen a political survivor, could emerge from this political bind.

For decades, he and Mr. Rajapaksa were both S.L.F.P. loyalists, and Mr. Sirisena served as the party’s general secretary for 13 years. In 2015, Mr. Sirisena left the party to run against his own incumbent leader, projecting himself as a unifier above party politics, but soon after becoming president, he took over the party leadership, as well.

Mr. Rajapaska’s wing of the party then formed a new party, the S.L.P.P. In hopes of peeling away some of Mr. Rajapaksa’s support, Mr. Sirisena has backtracked on his own promises of fighting corruption and reining in the military.

To many observers, Saturday’s elections showed that not only had Mr. Sirisena failed to make a dent in Mr. Rajapaksa’s support base, but his confused signals had cost him much of his own.</s>Mahinda’s Podu Jana Peramuna Leads in Most Elections to Wards in Sinhala Majority Areas With UNP Second and Maithripala’s SLFP a Distant Third; ITAL tops 25 of 34 LG authorities in North.





 However, in some councils though the SLPP won most of the wards under the FPP (First Past the Post) system, when the PR (Proportional Representation) quota of votes are counted, a combined Opposition can have more seats in the council than the SLPP.

 

 For example, at the Ambalangoda Urban Council where the SLPP won 10 of the 12 wards, its total number of seats in the 21 member council remain 10, while the UNP won two wards and got four more elected under the PR totaling six, while the UPFA won three seats and JVP two under PR so that the UNP-UPFA-JVP will have 11 seats in the council, one more than the SLPP.

 In the north, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) was set to sweep the poll. Similarly, in the Manthai East Pradeshiya Sabha, the ITAK won four seats under FPP and two more under PR totaling six seats in a 13 member Sabha.

 

 

 The UNP won four wards under FPP, SLFP won two under PR and EPDP won one seat under PR which means ITAK will have six seats, but the UNP-SLFP-EPDP combine will have seven seats.

 

 The SLPP, the breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) took an early lead winning most of the wards in the Southern, Uva, Sabaragamuwa, North Central and North Western Provinces, while the United National Party (UNP) fared better in urban areas and was expected to win some of the bigger municipalities.

 

 The SLFP-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of President Maithripala Sirisena took a heavy beating across the island, coming a weak third while the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuma (JVP) came fourth in most provinces outside the North and East. In some councils, however, the JVP was expected to pip the UPFA to third place.

 

 There was no official announcement of the election results even by midnight on Saturday. Additional Elections Commissioner M. M.Mohamed said the delay was due to the complexity of allocating seats under the Proportional Representation (PR) system for 40 percent of the seats in the councils.

 

 The SLPP won all the wards under the revived FPP system in the Matara district, except in the Weligama Urban Council where its nomination papers had been rejected. In the Galle district, too, the SLPP won the wards, except in the Galle MC. In the Hambantota district, the SLPP won a majority of the wards, except the Hambantota UC, which went to the UNP as the main party. In the Nuwara Eliya district, the UNP was leading, while in the Matale district, the SLPP was in the front. In the Puttalam district, except for the Puttalam MC, the SLPP was leading in all other councils as counting continued beyond midnight.

 

 In the districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura in the Sabaragamuwa Province, the SLPP was leading in all the councils while in the Monaragala district, too, the SLPP was set to win all the councils under the FPP vote. In the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts, the stronghold of the SLFP General Secretary and Leader respectively, the SLPP was leading except in the Medirigiriya UC where there was a close fight with between the SLPP and the UNP.

 

 Some of the bigger councils in the Colombo district such as Maharagama, Homagama, Kesbewa, Awissawella, Panadura, Kaduwela and Moratuwa too went to the SLPP as the main party to win the wards, while the UNP was leading in the battle for control of the Colombo Municipal Council. In the Gampaha district Kelaniya, Wattala, Biyagama, Gampaha, Divulapitiya, Minuwangoda, Attanagalla and Katana went to the SLPP as the main party.

 

 In the Jaffna district, the ITAK took 25 of the 34 councils while there was a close contest for the Jaffna Municipal Council between the ITAK and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC).

 

 The Chavakachcheri and Point Pedro Urban Councils were won by the ACTC, while the EPDP won in the Kayts and Delft islands.

 In the Kilinochchi district, three Praadeshiya Sabhas were won by ITAK while in Vavuniya one UC and three PSs were won by ITAK.

 

 In Mannar, the ITAK won two PSs and the Mannar UC, while the UNP won the Mussali and Manthai Praadeshiya Sabhas.

 Around 70 percent of the 15.8 million registered voters cast their votes at yesterday’s elections.

 

 The election, the first to be conducted under a new electoral system, drew more than an expected number of voters. In almost all districts, the percentage of voting was higher than the percentage at the 2012 local council elections.

 

 In the Northern Province, elections to some local council were being held after a lapse of nearly 40 years. Here, too, the voting was high with a turnout in the region of 70 percent.

 

 Police strictly enforced election laws, leading to the arrest of 39 people, including eight candidates while five others were arrested for photographing the ballot paper after marking it.

 

 Election monitoring groups said yesterday’s elections were largely free of violence while voters too showed a keener interest to cast their ballot.

 

 The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said it had received 145 complaints, of which 22 were major complaints. The People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL) said it had received 141 complaints, including the assault of candidates and supporters.

 

 Another monitoring group, the Network for Election Monitoring, said it had recorded about 200 complaints but there were no major incidents. The Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) said it had recorded 65 complaints.

 

 President Maithripala Sirisena cast his vote at the Sri Vidyaloka Temple polling booth in Polonnaruwa last morning. He spoke to journalists afterwards and noted that this was the first occasion after many years that when the country saw a peaceful campaign from nominations to Election Day.

 

 He said that after the conclusion of the poll, the Government would work with local councils for sustainable and all-inclusive development in their areas.

 

 The President said he was confident voters would ensure a resounding mandate for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and allied parties.

 

 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe cast his vote at the polling center at the College House of the University of Colombo. He told journalists that with the introduction of the mixed electoral system, the local council elections were held in a peaceful atmosphere. He said that under the new system, voters would get a representative responsible for their areas.

 

 Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who led the election campaign of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) cast his vote at the polling booth at D.A. Rajapaksa Vidyalaya in Medamulana. He said he was confident of a decisive victory for the SLPP that the election would be a stepping stone for a major political revolution in the country. He is expected to hold a news conference today to claim victory at yesterday’s polls.

 

 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake voted at a polling center at Abeysinharama Vihara in Panchikawatte. Mr Dissanayake said the importance of a political change had been deeply felt by the public. The people were actively hoping for such a change and in this backdrop, the JVP was confident of making a strong showing at this election.</s>Voters in Sri Lanka are choosing representatives in more than 300 local polls, with more female candidates than ever standing for election.

A change in the law requires women to fill a quarter of all seats elected in Saturday's vote - more than 12 times the current number.

Rosy Senanayake, a diplomat and parliamentarian, is aiming to become the mayor of the capital, Colombo.

She is the first woman to try.

"I strongly believe that we cannot have democracy if we do not interest the needs of the majority of the population," said Senanayake, a former Mrs World.

"The majority of the population in Sri Lanka are women."

She is just one of 17,000 women contesting local government elections - a record number.

Samanmalee Gunasinghe, a candidate of the Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP), says the changes will give more deserving women a chance.

"In our country, it was a minister's daughter, siblings or those from political families that could enter politics. But we think honest, talented women should come into politics where laws are made. This election can do that," she said.

The stakes are high for all political parties, with local issues such as roads, streets lights and rubbish disposal are taking on the intensity of a national fight.

The vote is seen as is seen as a crucial mid-term test for the uneasy coalition of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The election heightened tensions between the president and his senior coalition partner, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as they campaigned separately for their respective parties amid a growing rift between the two men.

The vote, the first to be conducted by the newly established independent Election Commission, was the most peaceful in decades, private monitors said.

Sirisena was backed by Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) in January 2015 to topple the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

But since then their alliance has fractured, with Sirisena publicly accusing the UNP of being more corrupt than the former Rajapakse regime.

The UNP has, in turn, accused Sirisena of backstabbing and indicated it may go it alone in the next general election in 2020.

The UNP is expected to claim the lead in Saturday's poll for 340 local government bodies while the parties led by Sirisena and Rajapakse are expected to battle it out for the second place.

More than 8,300 members are due to be elected under a complex hybrid voting system that combines first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems.</s>Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling alliance was humiliated on Sunday in local elections seen as a test of its leadership as the party of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse pulled off a stunning landslide victory, final results showed.

The mid-term polls further strained the uneasy coalition between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as they face a resurgent challenger in Rajapakse's new party.

Official results showed Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna — SLPP or People's Front — won 225 councils, or two thirds of the 340 up for grabs, in Saturday's election described by private poll monitors as the most peaceful in decades.

Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was a distant second with 41 councils while Sirisena's Freedom Alliance languished with just 11.

Rajapakse's party comfortably won in all regions bar the battled-scarred north and east where, as president, he brutally crushed a separatist movement to end the island's ethnic war in 2009.

"I earnestly request all those who contested under the SLPP to celebrate this hard-won victory peacefully and with restraint and in a manner that will not inconvenience the defeated side," Rajapakse said in a statement.

The vote affects only the lowest rung of politics but the result is being seen as a stinging rebuke to the ruling coalition, which has struggled to pass promised post-war reforms.

The alliance between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe — who teamed up to defeat Rajapakse in a presidential election in 2015 — has frayed as both men have levelled allegations of corruption and backstabbing against the other.

Wickremesinghe's UNP had been the favourite to lead Saturday's poll while the parties led by Sirisena and Rajapakse were expected to fight for second.

Rajapakse's surprise dominance was proof the people no longer had faith in the tattered ruling alliance, said SLPP spokesman Gamini Lakshman Peiris.

"This was a referendum on the government. It has no legal or democratic right to remain in power," Peiris told reporters.

Neither the president or prime minister were commenting on the result. Official sources said both men — who campaigned separately for their respective parties — were meeting senior aides to discuss the next moves.

The UNP had indicated it may go it alone in the next general election in 2020 as the rift between Wickremesinghe and Sirisena and their supporters deepens.
The opposition SLPP (Rajapaksa) wins 44.65% of the vote, the ruling coalition parties UNP (Wickremesinghe) and UPFA (Sirisena) gather 32.63% and 8.94% respectively. Rosy Senanayake (UNP) becomes the first female mayor of the capital Colombo.