Ruling UNF gets first seat in district of Galle

Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling UNF led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday swept the parliamentary polls in the southern district of Galle, in a significant reversal of the 2010 result.

The first result released by the Election Department showed that the United National Front had obtained 33,798 votes in Galle while the main opposition United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) got 19,613 votes, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) obtained 4,777 votes.

In the 2010 parliamentary elections, the opposition UPFA had won the Galle district with over 20,000 votes while the United National Party (UNP) had secured over 14,000 votes.

Initial postal vote results released early Tuesday for the eastern town of Trincomalee also showed the UNF leading with 5,212 votes while the UPFA polled in second with 2,894 votes.

But postal results for the southern coast of Hambantota, a stronghold of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, saw the UPFA leading with 8,441 votes and the UNF with 5,955 votes.

More election results are expected to come in on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections were held on Monday to elect a new government in the island nation.

The main battle is between the two main political parties, the UNF led by Wickremesinghe and the UPFA, which includes Rajapaksa as its main candidate.

(IANS)