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Wed, Dec 31, 2014, 09:13 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.Dec 31 (Economist) WHEN he called a presidential election for January 8th, two years before he had to, Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa must have been confident of victory. Provincial elections had shown that his once unassailable popularity was waning.
But the opposition was fractured, the economy was doing well and incumbency bestows benefits, both legitimate and nefarious. Mr Rajapaksa, who fosters myths that portray him as the reincarnation of a great king from Sri Lankas south, seems to have expected re-anointing. Something close to the 57% vote share which saw him re-elected to a second term in 2010 seemed achievable. Now, barring outlandish rigging, it would be a surprise. Mr Rajapaksa may still, just, be the favourite (seearticle). But the contest will be very close-fought.
Mr Rajapaksas popularity has rested on his role in ending Sri Lankas 26-year civil war, with the rout in 2009 of the Tamil Tigers, a vicious, fascistic group but one that represented the opposition of the largely Hindu Tamil minority to discrimination favouring the ethnic-Sinhalese, Buddhist majority (about 70% of the population). Victory was ruthless and bloody, costing thousands of civilian lives. Charges that the army, like the Tigers, committed war crimes have been dismissed by the government, and have not bothered Sinhalese voters. Indeed, Mr Rajapaksa has bolstered his appeal by portraying himself as a patriot defending his country from foreign sniping.
more and source: http://www.lankapage.com/NewsFiles14/Dec31_1420040610.php
But the opposition was fractured, the economy was doing well and incumbency bestows benefits, both legitimate and nefarious. Mr Rajapaksa, who fosters myths that portray him as the reincarnation of a great king from Sri Lankas south, seems to have expected re-anointing. Something close to the 57% vote share which saw him re-elected to a second term in 2010 seemed achievable. Now, barring outlandish rigging, it would be a surprise. Mr Rajapaksa may still, just, be the favourite (seearticle). But the contest will be very close-fought.
Mr Rajapaksas popularity has rested on his role in ending Sri Lankas 26-year civil war, with the rout in 2009 of the Tamil Tigers, a vicious, fascistic group but one that represented the opposition of the largely Hindu Tamil minority to discrimination favouring the ethnic-Sinhalese, Buddhist majority (about 70% of the population). Victory was ruthless and bloody, costing thousands of civilian lives. Charges that the army, like the Tigers, committed war crimes have been dismissed by the government, and have not bothered Sinhalese voters. Indeed, Mr Rajapaksa has bolstered his appeal by portraying himself as a patriot defending his country from foreign sniping.
more and source: http://www.lankapage.com/NewsFiles14/Dec31_1420040610.php