Sri Lanka will hold early presidential and general elections, the government said today, hoping to cash in on the popular support it was enjoying after vanquishing the Tamil Tigers.

A declaration for staging the elections in April next year will be made at the session of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party on November 15, Minister of Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters here.

The decision came two days after the SLFP won a landslide victory in the southern provincial council elections. Political observers had been speculating that President Mahinda Rajapaksa may go in for early polls to ride on the positive wave after the defeat of the LTTE in May.

The presidential elections were due in November 2011, while the parliamentary polls were to be held shortly after the term of the present House expires on April 2 next year.

Now, both the elections were expected to be held together, reports said. This means the presidential elections may be advanced by nearly 18 months.

The Minister said the government extends its gratitude to the masses in the southern province who had given a two-third mandate to the ruling party.

"The (Leftist) Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna suffered a severe defeat at the southern provincial council election," he said.