Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa brothers have secured a landslide victory in the parliamentary election, giving them nearly the two-thirds majority of seats required to make constitutional changes, according to results released Friday.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to be sworn in the same position by his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after the vote that could strengthen dynastic rule in the Indian Ocean island nation.
The Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka People’s Front won 145 seats in the 225-member Parliament while its main opponent obtained only 54 seats, the election commission’s results showed. A party representing ethnic minority Tamils won 10 seats, and 16 others were split among 12 small parties.
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The brothers need 150 seats, or control of two-thirds of seats in Parliament, to be able to change the constitution. At least four small parties collaborate with Rajapaksas’ party, so they appear to have mustered that support.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lost his constituency, and his party, which had 106 seats in the outgoing parliament, was reduced to just one seat.A breakaway faction from Wickremesinghe’s party headed by the son of assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sajith, got 20 percent of the vote and was a distant second with 54 seats.
The moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which had 16 seats in the outgoing parliament, also suffered badly and was left with just 10 seats in the new assembly, which is due to sit on August 20.
A total of 196 seats in the 225-member house were decided on district proportional representation while the remaining 29 were decided on the basis of votes polled nationwide.
