Ranil Wickremesinghe who contested the General Election from the Colombo District obtained 500,566 preferential votes.

He broke a 21 year old record of the highest number of preferential votes obtained by a candidate at a General election.Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was the previous record holder with 464,588 preferential votes at the 1994 Parliamentary Election.

Ranil Wickremesinghe swore in as Prime Minister for the fourth time.

At the event Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the UNP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on working together in a National Government.

The MoU was signed between SLFP acting General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake and UNP General Secretary Kabir Hashim.

Photos-sudath silva