National People’s Power (NPP) Presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake has already won and there is no reason to panic, NPP MP Vijitha Herath said.

He said Anura Kumara has won with a gap of 1.3 million votes and that the the counting of the second and third preferences will have no impact on the final result.

“The Elections Commission announced the counting on the second and third preferences as none of the candidates have secured over 50%. Second and third preferences are need to be counted as per election laws if the candidates fail to secure over 50. The process of counting the second and third preferences is underway and the final results will be announced within a few hours,” he said.

“Anura Dissanayake will take his oath in a simple ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat tomorrow. After that, we will temporarily appoint a Secretary to the President and 15 ministry secretaries,” NPP’s Samantha Vidyarathne said.