Trincomalee, Kandy re-poll today
April 20, 2010 07:09 am
The Election Commission has completed all arrangements for the
re-polling in 30 polling booths in the
The outcome is being watched keenly as the fate of some of the
bigwigs in the ruling combine and the opposition would be decided. Tamil
National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan is one awaiting the result.
The re-polling, scheduled two days ahead of the first meeting of
Parliament, would complete the polling process and enable the political parties
to release names of candidates on the National List.
The 29 seats from the National List would be filled up on the
basis of percentage of votes bagged by each party. Since the ruling combine has
polled over 60 per cent of the votes cast, it would have the bulk of the share
from the List.
According to the results cleared so far, the ruling United
Peoples Freedom Alliance has won 117 seats, with the main opposition United
National Party (UNP)-led alliance trailing way behind with 46 seats.
Projections indicate that the UPFA combine led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa
might be short of a two-thirds majority in the 225-member House.
The results of the remaining two districts, expected to be known
after Tuesday mid-night, would give an idea on how close the ruling combine is
to a two-thirds majority needed to carry out any amendment to the Constitution.
All major political parties are agreed on the need for major
political reforms which would require constitutional amendments. These include
switch over from the Executive Presidency to a parliamentary system.
