Sri Lanka headed for a hung parliament, Wickremesinghe’s party leading in 11 districts

The United People’s Freedom Alliance, the coalition on whose ticket Rajapakse contested, was ahead in nine districts.

Sri Lanka’s election is a combination of proportional representation and preferential voting. People vote for a party, and in every district, cast preferential votes for their three best candidates from the party slate for that district.

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The Tamil National Alliance (or Iykia Tamil Arasu Katchi-ITAK) has swept the Northern district and Batticalao, and is likely to emerge in a king maker’s role.

The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, which is the third party in southern Sri Lanka, will also be in a bargaining position.

In terms of vote share, the UNF, with 44.05% is slightly ahead of the UPFA, which has 43.96%. In Parliament, that could mean a difference of very few seats between the two.

As the likely next Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe and President Sirisena will have to be content with a strong opposition.

All eyes will also be on President Sirisena, who heads the UPFA and its main constituent, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, to see if he will pull members from the combine, to back the Wickremesinghe government.