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President Mahinda Rajapaksa swept to a landslide victory at Tuesday’s presidential election polling 57.88 per cent of the votes cast.
Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayaka who announced the final results last evening said President Rajapaksa had polled 6,015,934 of the votes while his main rival, common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka obtained 4,173,185 votes. Mr. Rajapaksa was re-elected as President with a majority of 1,842,749 votes.
A significant feature at this election was that President Rajapaksa recorded sweeping victories in almost all the Sinhala-dominated polling divisions while General Fonseka won the North, East and the hill country that have a significant Tamil and Muslim population.
President Rajapaksa who contested under the ‘Betel leaf’ symbol received more than double the votes received by General Fonseka in the polling divisions of Karandeniya, Wellawaya, Mulkirigala, Monaragala, Devinuwara, Kamburupitiya, Hakmana, Eheliyagoda, Deniyaya, Bulathsinhala, Agalawatta, Bentara-Elpitiya, Tangalle, Tangalle, Dambulla, Kolonna, Galgamuwa, Mihintale, Anuradhapura, Kalawewa, Medawachchiya and Gampaha.
For instance in the polling division of Medawachchiya, President Rajapaksa polled 35,996 votes or 69.25 per cent while General Fonseka only polled 14,971 or 28.80 per cent of the votes. In Karandeniya the President received 34,809 votes or 71 per cent while at Wellawaya he received 68,310 votes or 70 per cent.
General Fonseka who contested under the ‘Swan’ symbol won several polling divisions in Colombo including Colombo East and West, the North and the East including Jaffna, Mutur, KKS, Mullaithivu, Samanthurai, Point Pedro, Mannar, Negombo, Haputale, Passara, Borella, Kandy and Galle.
In the postal voting, General Fonseka won the Districts of Jaffna and Batticaloa while President Rajapaksa won all other districts.
Though General Fonseka performed well in Colombo, President Rajapaksa won the District in the final result recording an overall 614,740 votes or 52.93 per cent when compared with General Fonseka’s 533,022 votes or 45.90 per cent.
President Rajapaksa won easily at Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Puttalam and Polonnaruwa polling 582,784 (63.08%), 298,448 (66.32%) 201,981 (58.70%) and 144,889 (64.92%) respectively.
Rajapaksa also won the Districts of Badulla – 237,597, Galle - 386,971, Gampaha – 718,716, Kalutara – 412,562, Kegalle- 296,639, Kandy – 406,636, Monaragala – 158,435, Hambantota- 226,887, Matara – 296,155, and Ratnapura – 377,734.
General Fonseka took the Districts of Batticaloa – 146,057, Digamadulla – 153,105, Nuwara – Eliya 180,604, Jaffna – 113,877, Trincomalee- 87,661 and Wanni 70,367.
Tuesday’s presidential election was one of the keenly fought elections in recent times and it will go down in history as the first presidential election held in a post war Sri Lanka.
President Rajapaksa seeking a new mandate from the people pledged to make Sri Lanka one of the success stories in Asia by transforming it as the region’s trade, naval, air, IT and knowledge hub.
General Fonseka sought a mandate to make a regime change and promised to take Sri Lanka to new heights by putting an end to alleged corruption and waste and pledged to do away with the executive presidency and to implement the 17th Amendment.
Election monitors, Peoples Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) and the Camaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) said that overall the election was held in a free and fair manner with only a handful of minor incidents reported.
They conceded that no major incidents that could have affected the final results of the election were reported on January 26.
A Big Thank You
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, yesterday that he was pleased to take the opportunity to thank all those who trusted and gave him a resounding victory.
This is Mr. Rajapakse’s second term.
Reminding that it was the first National Election held after the elimination of terrorism the President mentioned that the people of North and East came forward to cast their votes without fear and doubt.
He says that it was a free and fair election and that was why the victory gained cannot be blemished by anyone.
He added that the victory is complete and that it is a victory which proves how grateful the people of the country were about the peace they got and that it is a victory for the people who love this country and one which can help them to have a sigh of relief.
Real victory was born only when there was no one defeated.
“We must think that this victory belongs to all of us.”
He says that he invites all to share the fruits of the victory peacefully.
In front of the law all are equal. Remember that the one who protects law is protected by the law. All must unite. The future is for prosperity.
He says that he would give a law abiding country, a developed country, a country with good governance.
He would deliver a future with all those for the future generation and for motherland.
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