Lanka prepares for snap Presidential poll early next year

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led ruling coalition has begun preparations for a snap presidential poll notwithstanding the drubbing it received in a key provincial election last week.
Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa yesterday opened a special operations center of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) here for the upcoming Presidential Election expected to be held in January, the Colombo Page reported.
Although the presidential elections are due by November 2016, the President has the power to call elections at any time after completing four years of the term.
Earlier, the government introduced the 18th amendment to remove the restriction for a President to hold office for more than two times and thus Mahinda Rajapaksa is eligible to contest for a consecutive third term.

The preparation for presidential elections comes in the wake of the ruling party's disappointing results at the Uva Provincial Council elections.
Despite the overall win in elections held last Saturday, the ruling UPFA lost over 22 per cent 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 say Mahinda Rajapaksa's popularity peaked in 2009 after he crushed the Tamil rebels and ended the 37-year-long separatist war, but was waning fast in recent times due to rampant corruption, nepotism, diminishing law and order and increasing burden on the masses.