Sri Lanka ruling party wins Southern Provincial Council, but not with the expected number of seats

(October 11, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) recorded a landslide victory at the Provincial Council election in Southern Province from where the President Mahinda Rajapakse hails. UPFA won 38 seats from the Southern Provincial Council (SPC) with a breakdown of 16 from Galle district, 12 from Matara and 8 from Hambanthota. Together with the two bonus seats, UPFA owns 38 seats although it targetted more than 40 seats during the election campaign.

UPFA achieved 804,071 votes from the province, well over 500,000 votes that the opposition United National Party (UNP) that gained 297,180 votes from the Province. UNP won 6 seats from Galle 5 from Matara and 3 from Hambanthota, a total of 14 seats from the province.

Marxist nationalist People's Liberation Front (JVP) gained 72,379 votes from the province and secured one seat each of the three districts of the Province where the party base is located. JVP internal sources said that they targeted to place second in Thissamaharama electorate where JVP runs the local administration in Hambanthota district. But the UNP was voted double the JVP votes there.