Sri Lankan PM confident of winning parliamentary polls

Colombo, Aug 17: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Monday, Aug 17 confident, as he arrived here to cast his vote, that his coalition would win the parliamentary elections and form the next government as he arrived in capital Colombo to cast vote.

Voting to elect a new 225-member parliament began on Monday with a satisfactory turnout recorded in the first half of the morning. Voting will end on Monday afternoon in 22 districts nationwide, Xinhua reported.

"This is a free and fair election both in terms of the legal norms as well as the democratic norms," Wickremesinghe said after casting his vote.

Wickremesinghe is contesting from the Colombo district and will retain the prime minister's post if his newly-formed United National Front (UNF) coalition gains over 113 seats.

Election observers from the European Union, as also other countries, have been deployed across the country for the polls.

IANS