Preparations were underway in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, on Sunday, one day ahead of the country's parliamentary elections.
In the fray for the post of prime minister are former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and outgoing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Rajapaksa was defeated by his former health minister Maithripala Sirisena in January's presidential election, amid a swell of opposition by ethnic Tamil and Muslim voters, owing to his majority Sinhala Buddhist nationalistic posture.
He was accused of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians while leading the military campaign against separatist Tamil rebels.
He has managed to retain the loyalty of many members of the ruling coalition, the United People's Freedom Alliance, which compelled an unwilling Sirisena to nominate Rajapaksa for prime minister.
Sirisena has indicated that his personal preference would be to form a government with Wickremesinghe.
Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were part of a grand opposition coalition that unseated Rajapaksa.
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