SRI LANKA RULING PARTY WINS MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT

President Rajapaksa's main political rival was jailed earlier this year

The governing coalition in Sri Lanka has won a majority in parliamentary elections, according to preliminary figures released by election officials.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance has so far won 117 of the assembly's 225 seats.

The main opposition party has won 46 seats, making it unlikely the alliance will win the two-thirds majority needed to make constitutional changes.

It is the first parliamentary poll since the civil war ended last year.

Government forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May after a decades-long insurgency that claimed more than