Sri Lanka's ruling alliance was confident of a sweeping victory on Friday in a parliamentary election, but said it may miss the two-thirds majority it needs to amend the constitution, according to Reuters. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had won 91 of 130 seats so far decided for the 225-member parliament, election officials said. It needs 113 seats to take the majority and form the government. The poll on Thursday was the first since Rajapaksa declared victory in May in one of Asia's longest-running and bloodiest wars, defeating the separatist Tamil Tigers and returning the entire island to government control after 25 years. The president in January turned the victory over the Tamil Tigers into a new six-year term, and appears to have correctly calculated a resurgent economy and political momentum would give his UPFA a near two-thirds legislative majority. "We may be short of 12 or 13 seats to get two-thirds but that will not be a challenge for us," said UPFA spokesman and Transport Minister Dullas Alahaperuma. "There is no question about the victory." The main opposition United National Party (UNP) won 34 seats, but blamed the government for misusing state property and resources, echoing earlier comments the government said were designed to cover up for the opposition's own disarray. "This is not a free and fair election at all. There was election violence and malpractice on a large scale," UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told reporters, repeating allegations the opposition made after it lost the January presidential poll. Monitors did report sporadic violence. The Electoral Commission said the results of 12 seats in the central Kandy district were likely to be delayed because a re-poll had been ordered in one electorate due to violence. Among the notable victors guaranteed seats by winning the most votes in their districts were the president's eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa, and cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya. MARKETS' WAIT NOW OVER Friday's results should remove a final question mark for investors eyeing Sri Lanka as an upcoming frontier market, and provide clarity on Rajapaksa's plans for a $42 billion economy targeting 6.5 percent growth this year. "Everyone had a wait-and-see approach for the past four months. Now that there is a clear direction in terms of policy, markets are likely to react much more favourably," Samantha Amerasinghe, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Colombo, told Reuters. The Colombo Stock Exchange extended gains into record territory on Thursday, expecting an easy win for the ruling alliance, and is up 165 percent since January 2009. It was closed on Friday after the president declared it a special holiday. Bond dealers say demand for high-yield government securities should rise, having grown more attractive with upward pressure on the rupee currency. Rajapaksa has not made public the constitutional amendments he intends if his alliance were to get the required majority, save possibly creating a bicameral legislature and changing the electoral system. The opposition had vowed to block him, saying the changes would threaten democracy by increasing his already vast powers. Some speculate he would change the charter to allow himself a third term when his expires in 2016, or otherwise adopt changes to help him entrench his family's growing political dynasty as earlier Sri Lankan political families have done. Reconciliation between his Sinhalese ethnic majority and the Tamil minority is also a pressing post-war issue, one Rajapaksa has pledged to address once elections were over since it could upset the nationalist elements of his coalition. The president has ruled out devolution or a federal arrangement, a longtime Tamil political demand, and instead offered democracy and islandwide development. Rajapaksa, 64, was re-elected in January with a victory over retired General Sarath Fonseka, his former war ally whom the opposition backed after he split with the president. He accused Rajapaksa of stealing his victory, but monitors noted no evidence of it. After the vote, the government arrested Fonseka and charged him with politicking in uniform and improper procurement in two courts-martial. Though still in military custody, he ran for parliament as he proclaimed his innocence.
