Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s left-wing party has secured a majority in parliament, a strong mandate for his economic recovery programme, according to preliminary official results of Sri Lanka’s snap parliamentary elections.

According to results released by the Elections Commission, President Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party (NPP) won 61.7 per cent of the vote, securing 123 seats in the 225-seat parliament.

The United People’s Power Party (UPF), led by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, won 31 seats.

According to these results, the Sri Lankan President’s party is expected to have no difficulty in forming a majority government, especially as it has secured more than the 113 seats needed for a simple majority.

A total of 17 million voters turned out to elect 225 members of parliament from 22 regions for a five-year term.