The swearing in ceremony of the newly elected President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena will take place this evening. Making a statement to the press in Colombo this morning, leader of opposition, Ranil Wickeramasinghe announced that he met President Rajapaksa in the morning who assured him all support for smooth transition of power.

Mr Wickeramasinghe also appealed to everyone in the country to maintain peace and assured that there will be no act of revenge from the new government. He said that people have voted for a new political culture and do not want violence or mis-governance.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat early this morning after meeting Ranil Wickermasinghe even as counting showed a slender lead to the opposition.
Mr Wickermasinghe said that Rajapaksa had since then spoken to Maithripala Sirisena and discussed him next steps towards the transition to new President.
Meanwhile, counting continues and is expected to be completed later today, following which, the Election Commission will announce the results. The swearing in of the new president will take place before a Supreme Court judge. The President will then have to announce his cabinet and Ranil Wickremasinghe is expected to be appointed the Prime Minister.

Mahinda’s Rajapaska’s party has the majority in the parliament, but he has assured that his party will extend support to the newly elected leader in all his well meaning proposals.