The UPFA says it will win the election without difficulty as the 6.2 million people who voted for President Maithripala Sirisena would not vote for the new alliance, the UNFGG, while the 5.8 million who voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa would continue to vote for him.
General Secretary of the party, Susil Premajayanthe said 600,000 Tamil votes and 700,000 JVP votes must be deducted from the votes received by Mr Sirisena in January, as the electorate would vote for the parties themselves.
"It means 1.3 million deducted from the 6.2 million the UNFGG is hoping to obtain," he said at a press conference.
“We have won 10 out of 22 districts at the January 8 presidential election. We lost three districts -- Badulla, Gampaha and Puttalam in a close fight and there is no doubt that we can regain those easily at the election. Then Polonnaruwa district is an absolute win for the UPFA making it 14 out 22 districts for the UPFA. Then we will get 14 bonus seats also from the 14 districts we will win,#
"In contrast, the UNFGG will be left only with four districts to win as Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa and Trincomalee will be won by the TNA and the SLMC. In that background how can the UNFGG win a minimum 113 seats to form a government."