Voters in Sri Lanka block political comeback bid by former president

Supporters of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe shout slogans Tuesday after elections that blocked a comebid bid by former president, Mahinda Rajapakse. (Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)

By Annie Gowen-August 18

NEW DELHI — Voters in Sri Lanka who dumped their two-term president in January proved unwilling to pave his way back to the national spotlight Tuesday, with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s coalition failing to garner enough Parliament seats for a majority.

Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance took far less than the 113 seats necessary to take sole control of the country’s 225-seat parliament, dashing his hopes to make a comeback as the country’s prime minister.

The former president conceded that his dream of becoming prime minister had “faded away,” according to AFP.

The current prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, issued a statement proclaiming victory — even before the final vote count was announced — with his party likely taking enough votes to assemble a governing coalition.

Official results, issued by the state-run news Web site, showed Wickremesinghe’s United National Party won 106 seats, putting it in a position to form a coalition government with other factions. Rajapaksa’s alliance claimed 95 seats.

 

"Let us together build a civilized society, build a consensual government and create a new country,” he said.

The general election in the island nation of 22 million, still struggling to recover from a devastating 30-year civil war, was closely watched as a referendum of the policies of its new president, Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena had upended Rajapaksa’s desire for a third term in office in January.

In the months since, Sirisena’s coalition government has instituted a series of reforms, including recasting foreign policy to lessen dependence on Rajapaksa’s close ally China and taking small steps to heal the war-torn north and east.

Sirisena’s government also launched corruption investigations into Rajapaksa and several of his family members.

Rajapaksa had ruled the island nation with an iron hand for nearly 10 years, granting favors and jobs to his close relatives and, the current government has alleged, socking away more than $18 billion of the country’s money in overseas accounts.

But Rajapaksa was widely adored in the Sinhalese majority south of the country, who believe he was responsible for finally putting an end in 2009 to the civil war that left more than 80,000 dead. A United Nations report on possible war crimes during the conflict is due in September.

“He is the only leader who has kept his promises, he said he would end the war and he did,” said Saman Mendis, 50, a store manager from Panadura in the country’s south. “May be he made some mistakes, but who is the politician who has not?”

 

Sirisena, who served under Rajapaksa as health minister, wrote an impassioned letter to his former boss last week, saying he would not appoint him as prime minister even if Rajapaksa’s party won a majority. Sirisena went on to accuse him of displaying “hatred, abhorrence, animosity and an over-brimming egoism” in his quest to regain power.

“Since your defeat in last January, it was quite ridiculous how you went from one temple to another countless times all over the country and tried catch the attention of media,” Sirisena said. “I doubt if those countless temple visits over the last six months or so could help you develop some spiritual thoughts.”

Voters in the north and east of the country are still frustrated by the slow pace of the government’s efforts at reconciliation there. But many have noted some decrease in the military presence since January and were not in favor of Rajapaksa’s return to the national stage. He will still sit in opposition as a member of Parliament.

Utharai Thavarasa, 36, whose husband went missing during the conflict, said she had been searching for clues for years, and was earlier routinely harassed by police or military intelligence. Since January, that has changed, she said.

“I could not look for my own husband, in my own country, I was treated like a criminal. I was scared for my son when he was growing up because he could have been arrested any time,” she said. “All that changed since Jan. 7. Now we can even go around the country collecting signatures for a letter.”

She still hasn’t found him. But “at least I can look for him in peace now.”

 

 

Amantha Perera contributed to this report from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Annie Gowen is The Post’s India bureau chief and has reported for the Post throughout South Asia and the Middle East.