NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party, or People's Party, has won the country's parliamentary elections by gaining 59.09 percent of the vote, according to data published by the national election watchdog on Friday.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament in early March and set snap elections for April 25. In mid-April, the election watchdog pushed back the vote to June 20 in light of the coronavirus epidemic. Later, it announced that another delay is warranted due to the epidemiological situation and rescheduled the parliamentary elections for August 5.
Of 20 political parties and 34 independent groups running for parliamentary seats, representatives of 15 political forces were elected to the legislative body. According to the election commission, the opposition alliance United National Party, led by former Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa, gained 23.90 percent of the vote, the National People's Power party won 3.84 percent, the Tamil National Alliance of Sri Lanka received 2.82 percent and the other parties gained a total of 10 percent of the vote.
The ruling party has secured 145 out of the 225 seats in parliament. Meanwhile, the opposition party will hold 54 seats, the Tamil National Alliance 10 seats, the National People's Power three seats, and the rest of the elected parties from one to two seats, the commission added.
A total of 12.3 of about 16.2 million Sri Lankans who were eligible to vote, or over 75 percent, cast a ballot.
