Sri Lanka's ruling party victorious in PC elections, Muslim party crucial factor in Eastern Province

Sri Lanka's ruling United People's Freedom Party (UPFA) secured a massive victory in the provincial council elections for the North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa provinces held Saturday obtaining a majority of seats in all the three provinces.
The UPFA secured 28 seats including the 2 bonus seats in the Sabaragamuwa province while in the North Central Province the UPFA secured 21 seats including the 2 bonus seats. In the Eastern Province the ruling alliance secured 14 of the 35 seats which included 2 bonus seats. The Ilangai Tamil Arasu Katchu which is the main party of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), won 11 seats in the province while the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) won 7 seats. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) was able to win only 3 seats in the province and the National Freedom Front, a coalition party of the ruin alliance won one seat. The SLMC with its 7 seats has become the crucial factor for the power of the Eastern Provincial Council. Tamil National Alliance that won 11 seats is likely to ally with the United National Party that won 3 seats, political sources say. However, the ruling UPFA with its 14 seats and the seat won by the NFF, if combined with the 7 SLMC seats will have a majority in the Council. In this context, the decision of SLMC, which is an ally of the government at present, has become the most crucial factor in the power of the Eastern Provincial Council. The Supreme Council of the SLMC, led by the Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem is to meet tomorrow to decide the actions taken by the party regarding the rule of the Eastern Provincial Council. Although SLMC is a coalition partner of UPFA in the government, it contested independently for the Eastern PC.