-
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa - Source: Reuters -
Related
President Mahinda Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka's first post-war
national election, but his rival alleged vote-rigging from inside
an hotel surrounded by soldiers which he said were sent to arrest
him.
General Sarath Fonseka, a former army commander who led the
military campaign to crush the Tamil Tiger insurgency, finally
emerged from the hotel after the troops dispersed.
Fonseka quit the army in November and entered the race, complaining
he had been sidelined and falsely suspected of plotting a coup.
But his political debut ended in a stinging loss.
Official results showed Rajapaksa winning 57.8% of 10.4 million
votes cast against 40.2% for Fonseka, Elections Commissioner
Dayananda Dissanayake said.
Sri Lanka's first national poll since the government defeated the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May featured the two
allies-turned enemies who waged a bruising campaign that culminated
in relatively calm voting on Tuesday vote marked by a heavy
turnout.
Rajapaksa sought a new mandate for his plans to develop Sri Lanka
by rebuilding infrastructure and encouraging foreign investment and
local productivity.
"I will start by developing the country," a victorious Rajapaksa
told reporters.
"We are looking at a six percent plus (economic) growth in my
second term."
He also promised to sit down with the Tamil minority to discuss
devolution of power, on which he has dragged his feet by citing the
need to finish elections first.
Rajapaksa called the poll two years before his term expired, a
gamble that paid off as he knocked out Fonseka and a coalition of
diverse political parties that united solely to beat him.
That should give him a chance to reshuffle his coalition at
parliamentary polls due by April.
Grenade attack
Fonseka said he had asked the Elections Commissioner to nullify the
vote, alleging vote-rigging.
"We are going to go to the courts. Our strength is people and
their franchise has been disregarded," he told reporters.
However, few people expect he will get very far in the courts,
which are seen as sympathetic to Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa said the size of his victory margin put the lie to
Fonseka's allegation.
"How can you rig 1.8 million votes and why should I rig? I knew
from the beginning I was going to get this outcome," he told a news
conference.
Dissanayake said there were three areas in which vote counters had
been assaulted but declined to say which side was responsible.
International observers were due to report their findings on
Thursday.
Shortly before Rajapaksa was declared the winner, two people were
killed and four wounded in a grenade attack on a Buddhist temple in
the central town of Gampola, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya
Nanayakkara said.
Hotel besieged
Tension was high early on Wednesday as troops surrounded Fonseka in
the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel in the capital Colombo.
"They had a plan to surround us and take us into custody,"
Fonseka said.
A military spokesman said there were no plans to arrest Fonseka but
rather to capture around 400 army deserters believed to be with him
who posed a potential coup risk.
Nine of them were handed over to military police, but Fonseka later
said they were part of his security detail.
The general left the hotel to return home late on Wednesday,
without being arrested.
Fonseka ran a relentless campaign to crush the Tigers, while
Rajapaksa deflected international demands for a ceasefire and
criticism of civilian deaths that prompted calls for a war crimes
investigation.
Rajapaksa will hold on to the reins of the economy which has
enjoyed a partial peace dividend, with big Chinese and Indian
investments in infrastructure and plans to put $5.6 billion into
development.
Foreign investors have put more than $2.1 billion into government
securities, and the Colombo Stock Exchange, turned in one of 2009's
best returns at 125%.
