Premier’s Office Says He Has Won the Presidency
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse’s office claimed that he won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, based on partial returns.
There was no immediate announcement from the election commission.
“He has passed the 50% mark and has a 150,000 lead,” said Basil Rajapakse, the prime minister’s brother and head of his campaign. “We are confident he will be the president,” he said.
According to unofficial partial returns, Rajapakse had received 3.65 million votes against 3.41 million for his chief rival, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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