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 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. 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.
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.