Mahinda Rajapaksa-led SLPP expected to win majority in Sri Lankan local government elections

Colombo: Former Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa led SLPP is expected to win the local government elections based on the results so far. According to unofficial results from various districts where polls were held on Saturday, Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) is expected to win a majority of the 340 councils. [caption id=“attachment_2110583” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Mahinda Rajapaksa. AFP.[/caption] There are 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 275 pradeshiya sabhas, the legislative bodies that preside over the third-tier municipalities in the country. In the first officially declared result coming from the Tamil-minority dominated north, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the Manthai east local council in the Mullaitivu district with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) coming second. In another official result from the south, Rajapaksa’s SLPP has won the southern Galle district’s Ambalangoda council, winning 10 seats while rival parties shared rest of the 10 seats. 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.