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Nationalist eyes comeback as Sri Lanka votes

August 17, 2015

Sri Lanka's elections have been billed as a referendum on ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa's comeback bid. Incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena is seeking to build a broad coalition against nationalist voters.

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Sri Lanka Wahlen Plakat Mahinda Rajapaksa
Image: Reuters/D. Liyanawatte

Sri Lankans began filing into polling stations Monday to decide the political future of the island nation's former ruler of nine years.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was hailed as a warrior king for defeating the Tamil Tiger militants to end decades of civil war. But, more recently, the 69-year-old ex-statesman has been accused of corruption and using his popularity as a staunch nationalist to consolidate his power and quash dissent.

He has vowed to return to power following a surprising defeat at the polls.

"This election is about whether you want Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister or not," his spokesman, Rohan Valivita, told the AFP news agency.

Wooing ethnic and religious minorities

Sri Lanka's newly-elected president Maithripala Sirisena looks on after being sworn in at Independence Square in Colombo on January 9, 2015.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena defeated his former mentor earlier this year.Image: AFP/Getty Images/S. Kodikara

The main rival - 63-year-old Maithripala Sirisena - was elected in January and has been campaigning to reach out to minorities who make up about a quarter of the population. He has called elections early in a bid to increase his power to pass reforms.

Sirisena, a former Cabinent minister under Rajapaksa, has indicated that he would prefer the outgoing premier's United National Party to form the next government with backing from minorities represented by Tamil and Muslim parties.

"People don't want Rajapaksa to come back," outgoing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at his final press conference before the vote. Rajapaksa's return is "an attempt to resurrect the politically dead," he said.

But even Rajapaksa's opponents agree the election has turned into a referendum on the charismatic leader who ruled Sri Lanka for nearly a decade.

A hero among nationalists

Rajapaksa is hugely popular among big sections of the ethnic Sinhalese nationalists for leading a crushing defeat of Tamil guerrillas in 2009 after a decadeslong campaign for a separate homeland.

But he is equally reviled by many ethnic Tamils who voted en masse for Sirisena in January after previously boycotting elections.

There are no reliable opinion polls and no single party is expected to win a majority in the 225-seat parliament. Results are expected to be released Tuesday.

jar/bw (AFP, Reuters, AP)