Sri Lanka's ruling party, UPFA has swept the provincial council elections. The results for the three provinces were announced by the election commission after the counting was completed Sunday morning.

AIR Colombo correspondent reports, President Mahinda Rajapaksa led UPFA has won two-thirds majority in the North-Central and Central provinces and has emerged as the single largest party in the eastern province.

The Eastern province of Sri Lanka was dominated by Tamil Tiger rebels until they were driven out of the region in 2007. The elections here were fought by the Tamil National Alliance, TNA, for the first time since the end of the civil war in 2009.

TNA had boycotted the elections in 2008. Sri Lanka's two main minorities -- Tamils and Muslims - live here in almost equal numbers, and the province has not been a stronghold of the ruling party.

A victory for President Rajapaksa here is expected to be significant in helping the government in its rehabilitation and resettlement efforts. The two-thirds majority for UPFA in North Central and Sabaragamuva provinces will give a fillip to the ruling party which was intensely attacked by the opposition leader Ranil Wikramasinghe of UNP during the election campaign on charges of corruption and inefficiency. President can also showcase the hard-won victory to the world as an endorsement of his policies by the people.