Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) claimed a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary election on Thursday. The voting held amid the coronavirus pandemic had seen a low voter turn-out. 16 million people were eligible to cast their votes to elect the 225-member parliament for a five-year term. 

SLPP’s Prime Minister candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa won from the northwestern capital district of Kurunegala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on the clear mandate at the country’s parliamentary polls. 

Mahinda was chosen as the caretaker PM in November after Ranil Wickremesinghe of the opposition United National Party (UNP) had resigned from the post following his party’s humiliating defeat in the presidential election. He had served as the president of Sri Lanka between 2005 to 2015.

The parliamentary polls this year were considered crucial as the Rajapaksa clan is looking forward to repealing or modifying the 19th Constitutional Amendment passed by the previous government, a long-standing campaign promise of SLPP. It would bolster the power of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The amendment, passed in 2015 by the UNP government, had curtailed the powers of the president and distributed them evenly with the prime minister and other democratic institutions.

According to the Election Commission, 7,452 candidates representing 70 officially recognised political parties had participated in the polls. The election that was slated to be held in April was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 2,839 Sri Lankans and killed 11.