Sri Lankan President Leaves Official Residence; Votes Still Being Counted
Spokesman for Mahinda Rajapaksa Says He Left Residence ‘to Respect the Verdict of the People.’ as Election Votes Are Counted
ENLARGE
Mahinda Rajapaksa at his final public rally for the presidential
elections, in Kesbewa, southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday.
Associated Press
Local television footage showed the president getting into a car and leaving Temple Trees, the executive mansion in the capital. But neither the president, nor his challenger, Maithripala Sirisena, had made any public statement by 8 a.m. Friday local time.
Presidential spokesman Wijayananda Herath said that Mr. Rajapaksa had a predawn meeting with a senior opposition leader to assure him that he would “ensure a smooth transition of power.”
Mr. Rajapaksa, a wartime leader who defeated the country’s long-running separatist insurgency and who was seeking an unprecedented third term in Thursday’s vote, faced a stiff challenge from an opposition that accused the president of leading Sri Lanka toward authoritarianism and family rule.
The opposition, including once-close allies of the president who deserted him in November, said Mr. Rajapaksa, who pushed through legal changes ending presidential term limits and expanding the office’s clout, had concentrated too much power in his own hands—and those of his relatives.
Mr. Sirisena campaigned on a pledge to amend the constitution within 100 days to strip many executive functions from the presidency and adopt a more parliamentary form of government with a prime minister at its head.
In 2009, during his first term as president, Mr. Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka to victory over ethnic militant group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He and his supporters argued that a strong presidency is necessary to maintain security and national unity in a country riven with communal tensions.
The opposition campaign dismissed that argument. “It’s a lame excuse to frighten people,” said Mangala Samaraweera, a member of parliament who served as Mr. Rajapaksa’s foreign minister during his first term and is now backing Mr. Sirisena. “Parliamentary systems can deal with any problems.”
Mr. Sirisena’s camp sought to focus attention on what it alleges is widespread corruption in Mr. Rajapaksa’s administration, as well as what it terms the Rajapaksa clan’s outsize presence in politics.
One of Mr. Rajapaksa’s brothers is secretary of defense, while another is minister of economic development. A third is the speaker of Parliament. Mr. Rajapaksa’s son is a lawmaker and other relatives hold posts at state enterprises.
The president’s strongest base of support has traditionally been among the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population, especially those in rural areas. His campaign has emphasized his leadership in ending the country’s civil war and ending terrorism, using the slogan: “A secure nation, a prosperous future.”
But there is significant unhappiness with Mr. Rajapaksa, especially in urban areas and among minority voters alienated by postwar triumphalism and the rise of hard-line Buddhist groups. Residents of the president’s home district in the south of the country said that even there, support for him was waning.
“People are dissatisfied,” said one 36-year-old man who declined to named, saying he feared retribution. “It’s clear there’s a lot of corruption and mismanagement” in government projects, he said, and “benefits aren’t being felt by the poor.”
—Uditha Jayasinghe contributed to this article.
Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com
