Sri Lanka's ruling party led by President Mahinda Rajapakse had taken an early lead in the vote count in Saturday's Eastern Provincial Council election, the state radio said Sunday.
At 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) Sunday morning, the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) took a lead of over 28,000 votes over the main opposition United National Party (UNP) in the overall vote count, the island's state radio Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The UPFA had gained 64,114 votes in the three administrative districts in the province as opposed to the UNP's 35,826 votes.
The UPFA had swept the board in the postal vote or voting by post by wining the vote in all three districts by gaining over 60 percent of the vote.
The UNP had polled a little over 30 percent of the postal vote.
Voters would elect 37 members to the Provincial Council following the recapture of the whole province from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in July 2007.
A total of 1,342 candidates were in the fray from 18 political parties and 73 independent groups for the first Provincial Council election in 20 years.
The multi-ethnic eastern province has all three communities, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim in almost equal proportions.
The government views Saturday's election as a test of its popularity after it regained control of the province.
Source: Xinhua
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