COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 9 (UPI) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling coalition appeared headed for a win Friday in parliamentary elections as vote counting began.
Voter turnout appeared to be quite low in the elections held Thursday, the first such since the Rajapaksa government's military ended the 26-year-old Tamil Tiger rebellion in May 2009. Rajapaksa, riding on his popularity, won re-election in January with a huge margin.
In the latest election, Rajapaksa's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance is trying to win two-thirds of the seats in the 225-seat parliament, which would allow it to change the constitution. Currently, a president can serve only two terms.
Britain's Daily Telegraph reported the UPFA had claimed victory. The report said the party had won 62.1 percent of the vote with more than one-fifth of the ballots counted. The main opposition United National Party was running a distant second with 27.32 percent.
While security was tight during voting, the Telegraph reported turnout was extremely low and there were reports of voter intimidation.
"We have won the election," UPFA spokesman and Sri Lankan Transport Minister Dullas Alahaperuma was quoted as saying, predicting his party would secure between 138 to 142 seats.
The Democratic National Alliance of former army chief Sarath Fonseka, another war hero who was the main contender against Rajapaksa in the January presidential poll, was also trailing in the vote count. Fonseka contested in the parliamentary election while being held in government custody and facing court martial on various charges, which he has denied.
The BBC quoted monitoring groups as saying the voter turnout was only about 40 percent.
The report said Rajapaksa has said he would explain his ideas on Sri Lanka's ethnic minority issues such as the Tamils after the elections but has ruled out federalism sought by Tamil politicians.
