How a Rajapaksa comeback would shake up Sri Lankan politics
Sri Lanka's wartime president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is set to contest in the August parliamentary election. But how would the return of the long-time leader impact the nation's politics? DW spoke to analyst Alan Keenan.
Gabriel DomÃnguez-15.07.2015
A coalition - formally headed by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena - has nominated Rajapaksa to run in the upcoming parliamentary polls, due on August 17. The 69-year-old, considered a war hero by the country's majority Sinhalese for ending a three-decade civil war in 2009, will stand in the South Asian nation's third-largest electoral district, Kurunagala, where many voters have relatives in the military.
