The general is the army hero whose unexpected intervention has electrified Sri Lanka’s presidential election, being held just nine months after the defeat of the violent separatist movement known as the Tamil Tigers.

When the campaign began in November the re-election of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the victorious war president, was regarded as virtually inevitable.

But now, as the last week of campaigning begins, there is a growing sense that the general who directed operations on the battlefield could instead narrowly pull off a historic upset at the polls.

The crowd at the Colombo rally roared with approval when he told them that after four years of arrogant and wasteful rule by president Rajapaksa and his powerful brothers, it was time for a change. More...Discuss this story Published: Sun Jan 17 23:08:15 EST 2010

Sri Lanka, almost since independence in 1948, has been racked by acrimonious rivalry between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils, who make up 12 percent of today’s 21.3-million population. Now the country is being divided by the political rivalry between two Sinhalese war idols, each of whom wants to be remembered as the true leader who crushed the Tamil Tiger guerrillas. The antagonism between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the now-retired General Sarath Fonseka has been in the making for months. No sooner had Sri Lanka’s military crushed the Tamil Tigers - who ran a de facto state for more than two decades in the north and east - than Rajapaksa removed Fonseka as army chief to appoint him to the new, largely ceremonial post of chief of defence staff. More...Discuss this story Published: Sun Jan 17 23:20:57 EST 2010