UNP’s preferential votes not counted as it failed to secure any parliamentary seats

by Suresh Perera

As the UNP failed to secure any parliamentary seats at the August 5 election, the preferential votes of its candidates were not counted, a senior Election Commission (EC) official said.

Asked why Ranil Wickremesinghe’s preferences were not released, EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said there was no need to count preferential votes of candidates of political parties which had had not secured any seats in Parliament.

“Why count them when no representatives had been elected?”, he asked.

The UNP suffered a crushing defeat, and it was the first time that the oldest party in Sri Lanka’s political landscape failed to secure a single seat in a parliamentary election.

“The UNP was reduced to rubble”, a political observer commented.

The embattled party led by Wickremesinghe was able to secure only 249,435 votes (2.15%) as against the SLPP’s hefty 6,853,690 (59.09%) and the SJB’s 2,771,980 (23.90%) at the polls.

The UNP, which was routed even in its one time stronghold of Colombo, was entitled only to a single National List seat. There was no word on who would be nominated by the party but speculation was rife that either veteran UNP stalwart John Amaratunga or Prof. Ashu Marasinghe may be asked to step in.

The ignominious defeat suffered by the UNP also saw the exit of the party’s leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, a seasoned politician, who was first elected as a Member of Parliament for Biyagama in 1977.

After taking over the party leadership in November 1994, he served as the Prime Minister three times. The last time he served as premier was when Maithripala Sirisena was elected President in 2015.

“The UNP has been decimated”, political analysts said, referring to the dismal performance of the party, which had to grapple with a leadership crisis leading to the formation of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), an offshoot headed by the UNP’s one-time deputy, Sajith Premadasa.