Sri Lankan state TV today proclaimed President Mahinda Rajapaksa the winner of a historic post-war vote, as his chief rival hunkered down in a luxury hotel surrounded by troops he said he feared would arrest him.
Final results from yesterday's poll were expected after 10.30am (Irish time) but have not yet been released.
The estimated two-thirds of all ballots already officially released, showed Rajapaksa with 4.2 million votes to 2.8 million for former army commander General Sarath Fonseka.
The two allies who laid claim to the total defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) became rivals in a close-fought, bloody campaign that culminated in a relatively peaceful election on Tuesday with heavy turnout.
"The president has recorded a remarkable victory, with a more than 1.8 million vote majority," state-run Rupavahini said.
Mr Rajapaksa said he wanted to seek a new mandate for his plans to develop Sri Lanka by exploiting its geographically strategic position astride air and sea lanes, rebuilding infrastructure and encouraging foreign investment and local productivity.
Moments before the state TV declaration, two people were killed and four wounded in a grenade attack on a Buddhist temple in the central town of Gampola, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
It was not immediately clear if the blast was poll-related, he said.
Tension was high early today as troops surrounded Gen Fonseka in the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel in the capital Colombo, recently renovated to take advantage of increasing tourist arrivals on the Indian Ocean island since the war's end.
"These people have surrounded the hotel with military and threatened my security people," Fonseka said by phone.
"They had a plan to surround us and take us into custody and I don't know if this is that phase of that particular operation."
Mr Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said there were no plans to arrest Gen Fonseka, but rather to capture around 400 army deserters with him who could pose a potential coup risk.
"They have booked 100 rooms. They are highly trained military people. We are suspicious about their gathering. Gen Fonseka has released nine deserters to the military police," he said.
Reuters