Updated on
Summary
Sri Lanka's ruling party has claimed victory in parliamentary elections, as counting showed them well ahead in a vote that has been marked by record low turnout and reports of voter intimidation. With more than one fifth of votes counted, President Mahinda Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had secured 62.1 per cent of the vote, with the main opposition United National Party a distant second with 27.32 per cent. We have won the election, said Dullas Alahaperuma, transport minister and UPFA spokesman, who predicted the collated results would give his party 138 to 142 seats in the 225-member parliament.
