President Mahinda Rajapakse's ruling coalition has won Sri Lanka's first postwar parliamentary elections, the Election Department said Friday, further consolidating his political dominance. The department said Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance so far has won 117 of the 225 seats contested in Thursday's polls. A party must win 113 seats to get a simple majority and form a government. It remains unclear whether Rajapakse's coalition can secure the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution. Its closest rival, the United National Front, has so far won 46 seats. Fonseka wins a seat Another opposition party led by defeated presidential candidate and former army chief Sarath Fonseka – who is currently under detention awaiting court martial – has won five seats, the Election Department said. Party official Vijitha Herath said Fonseka won one of the seats. A Tamil party received 12 seats from its stronghold in the northeast, the department said. So far, results for only 180 seats have been declared. The department suspended releasing results for 16 seats after it annulled votes from 38 voting stations in two districts and called for a revote. A date for the revote is yet to be announced. Another 29 seats are allocated according to the percentage of the vote each party gets. United National Front official Tissa Attanayake cried foul over the elections but acknowledged his party had suffered a setback. He said the government illegally used government resources for the campaign and employed violence and intimidation during the campaign and on election day.
