The Lanka Academic
 
JANUARY 27, 2010 EST, USA
 
QUAERE VERUM
 
VOL. 10, NO. 296
TLA FORUM

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2010 Election Results
TLA FEATURE CORNER
Headline Summary
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T  O  P      H  E  A  D  L  I  N  E
Sri Lankan president faces new challenges in 2nd term
Xinhua, Jan. 27 . COLOMBO, (Xinhua) -- The result of Sri Lankans' choice made between the war president and the war general was clear on Wednesday. The incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa won the island's sixth presidential election with a comfortable margin.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayaka said Rajapaksa had won 6,015,934 votes or 57.88 percent of the total while his main challenger former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka won 4,173,185 or 40.15 percent.

The election was actually a war between Rajapaksa and Fonseka, his Army chief who was promoted to be the island's first ever four- star general by Rajapaksa himself.

"People reposed faith on Rajapaksa," Chulawansa Sirilal, a senior journalist said. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Jan 27 22:34:12 EST 2010

An island still divided
ie, jan 28. Elected by over 60 per cent of the voters, Mahinda Rajapaksa has retained the presidency of Sri Lanka. In a tense electoral battle, which saw over a 70 per cent turnout, Rajapaksa beat his rival and erstwhile army chief Sarath Fonseka by 1.8 million votes.

Rajapaksa won comfortably in many parts of the Sinhalese-dominated south and central provinces, but Fonseka emerged a clear favourite in the Tamil-dominated north and Muslim- and Tamil-dominated eastern province. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Jan 27 22:31:56 EST 2010 Back to the top

Rajapaksa Has ‘Lot to Do’ to Lure Mobius After Sri Lanka Vote
bw, jan 28. Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will need to use the platform of the biggest election victory in 16 years to heal the wounds left by a civil war and lure the investment he needs to rebuild the economy.

Rajapaksa won 58 percent of the vote in the Jan. 26 election, defeating his former army chief Sarath Fonseka. As troops ringed Fonseka’s downtown Colombo hotel and the opposition alleged voting irregularities, the president sought to woo the 40 percent of voters who backed his estranged rival. “I am everybody’s president and will be broadminded in carrying out my tasks,” Rajapaksa, 64, said. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Jan 27 22:41:38 EST 2010 Back to the top

Sri Lanka president wins historic re-election
 Reuters, jan 27. COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa won re-election on Wednesday in an historic post-war vote but his chief rival called for the results to be nullified after soldiers surrounded him in a luxury hotel... Back to the top
Resignation greets sentencing of Tamil men
 STar, jan 28. That’s how Tamil Vision International’s Ragavan Paranchothy summed up the feeling of Greater Toronto’s Tamil community toward the sentencing of two of their own this week in a terrorism trial in New York—eight months after Tamil rebels were defeated by government forces in their homeland... Back to the top
Hint of exile as defeated general Sarath Fonseka ends poll stand-off in depleted motorcade
 Times, jan 28. Four words summed up the outlook for retired general Sarath Fonseka when he boarded a black BMW and sped away from his hotel last night as the emphatic loser in Sri Lanka’s presidential election... Back to the top
Sri Lanka: President’s New Term Time for Accountability
 HRW, Jan 27. New York) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key international actors should take steps to bring accountability for Sri Lanka's grave human rights violations so that the thousands of victims will not continue to be denied justice during President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second term, Human Rights Watch said today... Back to the top
Sarath Fonseka letter to Sri Lanka Elections Commission
 bbc, jan 28. Excerpts of a letter by Gen Sarath Fonseka to Sri Lanka's Elections Commission, following his defeat in the presidential poll... Back to the top
Sri Lanka: Initial Results Show President Leads
 The New York Times, Jan 27, 2010. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surrounded the hotel where the opposition candidate was holed up Wednesday as early returns from the nation's hard-fought presidential election gave the incumbent a comfortable lead... Back to the top
Sarath Fonseka claims assassination plot as Mahinda Rajapaksa wins poll
 times, jan 27. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent President of Sri Lanka, was declared the winner of a presidential election today even as his main challenger, surrounded by troops in a luxury hotel, contested the results and accused the government of trying to have him assassinated... Back to the top
Rajapaksa registers landslide win in Sri Lanka presidential poll
 Hindu, Jan27. The sitting Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, seeking a second endorsement to two years ahead of his first tenure, registered a landslide victory against his chief opponent and the opposition consensus nominee retired General Sarath Fonseka... Back to the top
Complaints flow from loser of Sri Lankan election
 Calcutta News.Net, jan 27. The winner of Sri Lanka's presidential poll has been declared, but the loser has rejected the result... Back to the top
Rajapaksa leads SL polls; army surrounds Fonseka's hotel
 India Today, jan 27. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was on Wednesday leading the presidential polls amid accusations by rival candidate Sarath Fonseka that the elections had been rigged and his life was under threat... Back to the top
Rajapaksa Set to Win Re-Election in Sri Lanka, Spokesman Says
 Bloomberg, jan 27. Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is heading for a sweeping victory in the country’s first peacetime election in three decades, his spokesman said. “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... Back to the top
Lanka polls: Rajapakse takes big lead, violence expected
 afp, jan 27. COLOMBO: Incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa took a strong lead in counting on Wednesday in Sri Lanka's bitterly disputed presidential election,Election officials said Rajapaksa who is being challenged by his estranged former army chief Sarath Fonseka, had won 60 percent of the vote with about a fifth of the ballots counted... Back to the top
Rajapaksa Leads Sri Lanka Vote as Fonseka Candidacy Challenged
 Bloomberg, Jan. 27. Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa leads in early returns from yesterday’s election as officials defended the candidacy of challenger Sarath Fonseka, who isn’t registered to vote. Rajapaksa, 64, led with about 688,000 votes compared with 441,000 for Fonseka, according to official results published by the Daily Mirror newspaper... Back to the top
Sri Lanka presidential challenger says fears arrest
 Reuters, Jan 27. COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's top opposition candidate said troops had surrounded his hotel on Wednesday, after polling in Sri Lanka's first post-war presidential election ended with the revelation that he was not a registered voter... Back to the top
Fears military will intervene in Sri Lanka election
 Herald, Jan 27. Fears that the Sri Lankan military might intervene in a crucial presidential election were stoked overnight when a large contingent of troops surrounded the hotel where contender, Sarath Fonseka, was staying in Colombo... Back to the top
Sri Lanka Election Officials Defend Fonseka’s Presidency Bid
 Bloomberg, jan 27. Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan election officials defended the right of opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka to stand in yesterday’s ballot amid reports of a government challenge. Fonseka, the former army chief, was not registered for the election because he was in “the battlefield” when voter lists were drawn up, his spokesman, Anura Kumara Dissanayake told reporters in Colombo, the capital... Back to the top
Top S.Lankan challenger 'ineligible': govt
 afp, jan 26. Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday it would challenge the legitimacy of leading opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, who contested the country's first post-war presidential election... Back to the top
70 pc turnout in Sri Lanka's presidential polls
 sifynews, Jan. 26, 2010. Colombo: Polling in Sri Lanka's presidential election ended on Tuesday with a turnout of more than 70 per cent as heavy security was deployed to prevent violence... Back to the top
Sri Lanka’s 1st Postwar Vote Passes Peacefully; Economy Figures
 Bloomberg, Jan. 26. Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s first peacetime presidential election in three decades passed off with few reports of violence as voters urged the two frontrunners to improve living standards. The candidates in today’s ballot are led by incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, 64, and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka... Back to the top
Troops Patrol as Sri Lanka Votes for Peacetime Leader (Update3)
 Bloomberg, Jan. 26. Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankans cast ballots at polling stations guarded by 105,000 troops and police in the first peacetime presidential election in three decades, choosing between the politician and general who ended a bloody insurgency. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, 64, and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka both claim credit for ending a civil war last May with Tamil Tiger rebels that killed 100,000 people and polarized the South Asian nation of 20 million... Back to the top
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