Ethnic polarization in voting pattern has reduced this time

• Ariyanethran received a total of 226,343 votes from the North and the East where he contested
• Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake exceeded the votes polled by  Ariyanethran

By Kelum Bandara
At this election, an amalgam of Tamil parties fielded former Batticaloa District MP P. Ariyanethran as a common candidate, a departure from the practice of supporting a candidate fielded by any mainstream party in the south.
However, the total number of votes polled by main candidates President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of National People’s Power exceed the votes polled by Mr. Ariyanethran.   
Mr. Ariyanethran received a total of 226,343 votes from the North and the East where he contested. However, in the Jaffna District alone, Mr. Wickremesinghe polled 84,558 votes, Mr. Dissanayake 27,086 votes and Mr. Premadasa 121,177 votes totaling 232,711 votes.   
In the Vanni District, Mr. Wickremesinghe got 52,573 votes, Mr. Premadasa 95,422 votes and Mr. Dissanayake 21,412 votes.   
In the Batticaloa District, Mr. Premadasa got 64,068 votes, Mr. Wickremesinghe 41,538 votes and Mr. Dissanayake 24,168 votes.   
Mr. Wickremesinghe got 40,496 votes from the Trincomalee District, Mr. Premadasa 120,588 votes and Mr. Dissanayake 49,886 votes.   
In the Digamadulla District, Mr. Wickremesinghe polled 86,589 votes, Mr. Premadasa 200,384 votes and Mr. Dissanayake 108,971 votes.