Tag: Sri Lanka

January 28, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankans opted for stability in their first post-war presidential poll, but analysts say the results underscored simmering ethnic tensions that could once again tear the country apart. President Mahinda Rajapakse was re-elected with a resounding 57. 9 percent of the vote on Tuesday despite vociferous local and foreign criticism […]

Jan 28, 2010 (LBO) – The United States congratulated Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on his election to a second term in office but said the safety of candidates and campaign workers should be protected and allegations of electoral abuse probed. “The United States congratulates Sri Lanka for the first nationwide election in decades and […]

Jan 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa led in postal ballots of mostly state workers with opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka getting a lead in only districts in which results were declared. Common opposition candidate Fonseka led in postal ballots in Jaffna in the north and Batticaloa in the East with postal ballots […]

Jan 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa was leading his rival, common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka in early results in an election where over 70 percent of the electorate turned up to vote. Fonseka won the Jaffna polling division Updated Rajapaksa had bagged nearly 60 percent and Fonseka around 38 percent with […]

January 27, 2010 (AFP) – Heavily armed troops on Wednesday surrounded the hotel occupied by Sri Lanka’s main presidential challenger, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, a military spokesman said. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said troops were deployed following information that army deserters were among 400 people inside the lake-front luxury hotel in central Colombo “We have […]

January 27, 2010 (AFP) – A Buddhist monk and another man were killed in a grenade attack on a temple in Sri Lanka’s central town of Gampola on Wednesday as presidential election results were being released, police said. Police spokesman I.M. Karunaratne said four others were wounded and a curfew had been declared in the […]

January 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse won a bruising re-election battle on Wednesday, but the result was rejected by his opponent who spent the day holed up in a hotel surrounded by troops. The election commissioner said Rajapakse had secured 57. 9 percent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s presidential poll […]

COLOMBO, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said he was unable to vote in Tuesday’s presidential election because his name was not on the electoral register. A pro-government politician had wanted him thrown out of the contest when he filed his nomination because he wrongly claimed Fonseka was a […]

January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankans voted in their first post-war presidential election on Tuesday amid claims of violence and voter intimidation after a bitter and highly personal campaign. The contest was a straight fight between the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapakse, and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka, and was seen as too close to […]

Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – More than 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s registered electors are estimated to have turned out to vote in Tuesday’s presidential polls, though voting at former war-torn areas in the north and the east was much lower, monitors said. Rohana Hettiarachchi Executive director of PAFREL, an election monitoring body said turnout […]

January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government said Tuesday that it would challenge the legitimacy of leading opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, who contested the country’s first post-war presidential election. “We are seeking a court order on the suitability of this candidate because he is not eligible to be declared as a candidate,” Foreign Minister […]