Sri Lanka: EU urges probe on poll violence

The European Union, while congratulating the government on election victory, has urged Sri Lankan authorities to investigate violence on the election day.

Catherine Ashton, the deputy president and the Foreign Minister of the European Union, has congratulated President Rajapaksa and the government on the election victory.

“I also welcome the fact that these elections took place in a largely calm atmosphere,” she said in a statement.

The EU says it looks forward to working with the government on “implementation of its political agenda including national reconciliation.”

'Respect' mandate

It added: “The EU has noted reports of incidents on election day and trusts that the authorities will take appropriate action to ensure that these are properly investigated and resolved.”

The US and India earlier congratulated the president and ruling United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on the sweeping victory at 08 April polls.

“This victory, coupled with the President's win in January’s contest, provides a mandate to move forward on the important issues the President discussed during the campaign, such as national and ethnic reconciliation, decentralizing power, economic development, and securing human rights,” the US government statement said.

Out of the 180 seats declared so far, the UPFA has secured 117 seats while main opposition United National Party (UNP) won 46 and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) secured 12 seats.

The government this week urged the world leaders to recognise the magnitude of the victory and respect the people’s mandate.

© BBC Sinhala