“Based on results so far, we are forecasting a 1.8 million- vote majority,” Chandrapala Liyanage, head of the president’s media unit, said in a telephone interview today.

With about a quarter of the projected 10 million votes counted, Rajapaksa, 64, had captured almost 60 percent compared with 39 percent for challenger Sarath Fonseka, according to official results on state-run Rupavahini television. Fonseka’s campaign officials were not immediately available for comment.

Rajapaksa and Fonseka, his former army chief, spearheaded a victory last May over a 26-year Tamil Tiger conflict that killed 100,000 people. They fell out after the president moved Fonseka, 59, to a ceremonial post and accused him of plotting a coup.

The new administration must build on an economic recovery in the South Asian nation led by increased construction and farm production in the war-ravaged north. Sri Lanka’s stocks are Asia’s second-best performing this year after the benchmark index more than doubled in 2009. Markets are closed today. More...Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 26 22:42:07 EST 2010

Rajapaksa, 64, led with about 688,000 votes compared with 441,000 for Fonseka, according to official results published by the Daily Mirror newspaper. The South Asian nation has 14.1 million eligible voters, with turnout projected at about 70 percent. Initial returns in the South Asian country included postal ballots from state employees who favored the incumbent.

Rajapaksa and Fonseka, his former army chief, spearheaded a victory last May in a 26-year civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels that killed 100,000 people. They fell out after the president moved Fonseka, 59, to a ceremonial post and accused him of plotting a coup. More...Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 26 20:05:01 EST 2010