Sri Lanka was headed on Saturday for a shaky coalition government as President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party made gains in an election called to settle a power struggle that has set back the island's peace process.
With about four-fifths of the 10.31 million ballots counted, Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance had received 47.2 percent. Wickremesinghe's United National Party was trailing with 37.9 percent.
The proxies of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, the Tamil National Alliance, had 5.9 percent of the vote and looked set to be the most crucial factor in deciding the future government.