Sri Lanka's ruling party scores big win

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka's ruling party scored a landslide win in a key provincial election that could pave the way for an early presidential election, authorities said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance Saturday captured 38 seats in the 55-member Southern Provincial Council.

The main opposition United National Party won 14 seats while the Marxist People's Liberation Front won three seats.

Rajapaksa's party was boosted by the victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels earlier this year. An election monitoring group, however, said the run up to the election was rife with violations.

Hundreds of reports of violence and intimidation were reported before the election, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections told the BBC Sunday.

Rajapaksa's party has won eight provincial elections with only the former Tiger-ruled Northern Province yet to vote.

Rajapaksa, who has two more years in office, can call for a presidential election any time after next month, although parliamentary elections must be held by April.