Sri Lanka's President-elect Maithripala Sirisena will be sworn-in as the island's Head of State this evening, outgoing president Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
Addressing government parliamentarians at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday, President Rajapaksa said a new prime minister will be sworn in on Saturday.
The BBC's Sinhala Service said that election results are still being counted, even though President Rajapaksa has gracefully accepted his defeat from the projected results.
The outgoing President met the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe early Friday morning at Temple Trees and assured him of a smooth transition before leaving the premises.
He has requested the opposition leader to make arrangements to transfer power peacefully.
The President has also telephoned President-elect Sirisena and discussed the next steps to be taken after the change in the administration.
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President Rajapaksa, who bid for a third term when he has two more years left in his second term, asked the ruling party MPs to cooperate with the new administration without creating conflicts.
Following the meeting with the MPs, the outgoing President also met with the Presidential Secretariat staff, reports the Lanka Page web site.
