Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka to mend fences with West: president
January 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president, who won a second term Wednesday, said he was keen to repair relations with Western nations that have been at odds with Colombo over its human rights record. President Mahinda Rajapakse said most of the “misunderstandings” between Colombo and Western nations stemmed from the island’s conflict with […]
Sri Lanka president must heal ethnic rift: analysts
January 28, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankans opted for stability in their first post-war presidential poll, but analysts say the results underscored simmering ethnic tensions that could once again tear the country apart. President Mahinda Rajapakse was re-elected with a resounding 57. 9 percent of the vote on Tuesday despite vociferous local and foreign criticism […]
Sri Lanka on edge as results released
January 27, 2010 (AFP) – President Mahinda Rajapakse has taken the lead in Sri Lanka’s tense election, officials said Wednesday, but the opposition said it was on course for power despite a row over its candidate’s eligibility. Election officials said Rajapakse, who is being challenged by his former army chief Sarath Fonseka, had won over […]
Sri Lanka postal ballots favour Rajapaksa
Jan 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa led in postal ballots of mostly state workers with opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka getting a lead in only districts in which results were declared. Common opposition candidate Fonseka led in postal ballots in Jaffna in the north and Batticaloa in the East with postal ballots […]
Sri Lanka President ahead in early results
Jan 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa was leading his rival, common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka in early results in an election where over 70 percent of the electorate turned up to vote. Fonseka won the Jaffna polling division Updated Rajapaksa had bagged nearly 60 percent and Fonseka around 38 percent with […]
‘s hotel
January 27, 2010 (AFP) – Heavily armed troops on Wednesday surrounded the hotel occupied by Sri Lanka’s main presidential challenger, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, a military spokesman said. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said troops were deployed following information that army deserters were among 400 people inside the lake-front luxury hotel in central Colombo “We have […]
Two killed in Sri Lanka post-poll violence
January 27, 2010 (AFP) – A Buddhist monk and another man were killed in a grenade attack on a temple in Sri Lanka’s central town of Gampola on Wednesday as presidential election results were being released, police said. Police spokesman I.M. Karunaratne said four others were wounded and a curfew had been declared in the […]
Sri Lanka president wins re-election
January 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse won a bruising re-election battle on Wednesday, but the result was rejected by his opponent who spent the day holed up in a hotel surrounded by troops. The election commissioner said Rajapakse had secured 57. 9 percent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s presidential poll […]
Sri Lankan Tamils pray for post-election peace
VAVUNIYA, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, for decades in the crossfire between rebels and government forces, hope their potentially decisive role in Tuesday’s election will finally bring them peace. The two main candidates, President Mahinda Rajapakse and former general Sarath Fonseka, were the architects of a final assault on Tamil Tiger […]
Sri Lanka presidential candidate barred from voting over identity
Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – A leftist candidate in Sri Lanka’s presidential polls was turned away by polls officials Tuesday because he could not present a prescribed identification document under the country’s election laws. There are 22 candidates in the running for the presidency. The front runners are President Mahinda Rajapaksa and common opposition candidate […]
Sri Lanka northern polling low: monitors
Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – Polling in Sri Lanka’s north was estimated to be about 15 to 20 percent and in the east about 50 percent while the rest of the country had higher turnouts by early afternoon, a poll monitoring group said. Reports said war refugees in the north had difficulties in getting transport […]
‘s Tamils trudge to polls in post-war vote – Scene
VAVUNIYA, January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Kandaswamy Wellarayanam, 73, walked six kilometres to vote in Sri Lanka’s election from a state camp where displaced Tamils were locked up after the country’s war last year. Now able to move freely, he said he and his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were eager to take part, even […]