COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Thursday (Aug 6) began counting votes for a parliament election which President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's party is widely expected to win, cementing his grip on power.
Close to 70 per cent of eligible Sri Lankans voted in Wednesday's election to the 225-member parliament, shrugging off fears of coronavirus.
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Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya said counting had started at 9am local time (0330GMT) and the first results were expected late afternoon with the final tally coming in around midnight.
Rajapaksa is hoping to install his older brother who is also a former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister. The brothers are best known for crushing Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils during the elder Rajapaksa's presidency in 2009.
People wearing protective masks wait in a line outside a polling station as they prepare to cast their vote during the country's parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Aug 5, 2020. (REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte)
President Rajapaksa said he was pleaseRead More – Source
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