Sri Lanka ruling party wins landslide local vote: results

The alliance also had collected nearly 60 percent of the votes counted in the North Western provincial council, election officials said.

Rajapakse had turned Saturday's vote into a referendum on his military campaign to crush separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas who are cornered in the north-east of the island.

The president has said he hoped to defeat the Tamil Tigers within days. The guerrillas have been leading a drawn-out campaign for independence since 1972.