Sri Lanka's ruling party prepares for early presidential election

Sri Lanka's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance has begun preparations for a snap presidential poll expected to be held in January next year, media reported Friday.

The first campaign office for possible elections was opened by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Although the presidential election is due November 2016, the president has the power to call election at any time after completing four years of his term.

The government introduced the 18th Amendment to remove the restriction for a president to hold office for more than two times and the current president is thus eligible to contest for a third term.

The preparation for presidential election comes in the wake of the ruling party's disappointing results at the Uva Provincial Council elections.

Despite the overall win in Saturday's elections, the ruling UPFA lost over 22 percent of its votes and six seats in the Council from the 2009 elections while the main opposition United National Party (UNP) more than doubled its voter base and gained six seats in the Council.

Political observers have warned that delaying the presidential election further would be unfavourable for the president and indications are that the election would be held in the second week of January.