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Former Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reportedly conceded defeat in elections to that country's Parliament.
The main battle is between the United National Front (UNF) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) which has Rajapaksa as its main candidate despite the fact that the Sri Lankan strongman was only a few months ago toppled as president.
"My dream of becoming prime minister has faded away," Rajapaksa was reported as telling Agence France Presse. "I am conceding. We have lost a good fight."
Earlier, initial election results for the southern town of Galle saw a clean sweep by the ruling UNF.
Results released by the elections department showed that the UNF obtained 33,798 votes while the main opposition UPFA obtained 19,613 votes, Xinhua reported.
Sri Lanka's Marxist party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) obtained 4,777 votes.
During the 2010 parliamentary elections, the opposition UPFA had won the Galle district with over 20,000 votes while the UNP had secured over 14,000 votes.
Initial postal vote results released for the eastern town of Trincomalee also showed the UNF leading with 5,212 votes while the UPFA came in second with 2,894 votes.
Results for the southern coast of Hambantota which is a strong hold of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa saw the UPFA leading with 8,441 votes and the UNF with 5,955 votes.
Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections were held on Monday to elect a new government in the island nation. The main battle is between the UNF led by Wickremesinghe and the UPFA which has Rajapakse as its main candidate.
