Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, issuing a statement, said the anti-Mahinda Rajapaksa vote has vote has increased from 51.28% in 2015 to 55.35% in 2018.
Analyzing the results of the Local Government election said, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa only managed to get the support of 44% of the country's voters.
"Despite a good performance at the Local Government polls in 2018, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's dream of capturing presidency will remain nothing but a dream," Samaraweera said.
He also described the election result as a timely wake up call to "Yahapalanaya" government to get back on the right track.
"Join hands with all honest and democratic political forces to uplift our motherland and ensure that Sri Lanka never again returns to ruled by the sword. That is our calling and we must not fail. Our democracy, our republic, depends on it," Samaraweera said.
The statement also added, "We promised to amend the constitution to restore independence to the public service, abolish the executive presidency, and enshrine the rights of all Sri Lankans into the legal bedrock of our legal system. We promised to bring those who robbed the coffers of the treasury to justice. We promised to hold accountable those who quenched their thirst for power with the blood of brave journalists and peaceful protestors. Most of all, we promised you a government that would be free of the rampant corruption that defined the decade that came before us.
Today, the people told us that we have not done enough. Despite the sincerest of efforts to inject haste and independence into a dilapidated justice system over the last three years and empower the police with the tools they need to successfully investigate complex crimes, murderers and fraudsters remain at large. Despite our government being the first in the nation’s history to insist that ministers must resign from the cabinet at the first sign of wrongdoing, and indeed the first to investigate allegations of corruption within its ranks with such vigour, justice is yet to be served."
