The Hindu : Front Page : Rajapakse elected President

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 19, 2005

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Rajapakse elected President

V.S. Sambandan

Defeats Wickremesinghe by a margin of 1.8-lakh votes, calls it a victory for peace

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was on Friday declared elected as the island-nation's fifth Executive President.

Mr. Rajapakse of the United People's Freedom Alliance, who is to be sworn in on Saturday, told journalists that "this is a victory for peace and I stand by that."

Mr. Rajapakse was elected to the highest political office on his 60th birthday. He defeated Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party in the poll held on Thursday. The election was closely fought with Mr. Rajapakse and Mr. Wickremesinghe each winning 11 of the 22 electoral districts.

In an election which had a 73.74 per cent turnout from the 13,327,160 registered voters, Mr. Rajapakse polled 4,887,152 votes winning over Mr. Wickremesinghe (4,706,366 votes), with a lead of 1,80,786 votes.

Mr. Rajapakse secured 50.29 per cent of the valid votes cast, crossing the legally required 50 per cent mark by a margin of 28,632 votes. Mr. Wickremesinghe polled 48.43 per cent.

UNP request rejected

Citing the "extremely narrow margin," the UNP had requested Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake to exercise his "statutory power for a re-poll." The request, however, was turned down and Mr. Dissanayake declared Mr. Rajapakse elected shortly after 1.30 p.m.

The UNP, in a statement said, "no candidate has a mandate" as "hundreds and thousands of voters" who were prevented from exercising their franchise in the north, east and south exceeded the victory margin secured by the Prime Minister.

Mr. Rajapakse established an early lead. In most electoral divisions the contest was close. For instance, Mr. Rajapakse won the Beruwala electoral division on the south-western coast by just 12 votes.

Mr. Rajapakse's victory was largely a result of a polarised Sinhalese electorate and the "boycott" by Tamil voters in the northern and eastern districts. While Mr. Rajapakse scored well in Sinhalese majority districts, Mr. Wickremesinghe's successes were from districts that had a mix of the three main communities — Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils — or those in which the minority Tamils and Muslims were strong.

The President-elect's jubilant supporters set off firecrackers and welcomed a beaming Mr. Rajapakse as he arrived at the office of the Commissioner of Elections for the result to be declared.

"Setback to peace process"

At a press conference after the results were announced, Mr. Wickremesinghe — a former Prime Minister who signed the 2002 ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — described the verdict as "a setback to the peace process." The election result reflected "a very polarised society, without a clear mandate." The country, he said, was divided into "those who voted for me, for Mahinda, and those who could not vote."

Referring to his campaign, in which he had "always sought a Sri Lankan mandate," Mr. Wickremesinghe said, "Unfortunately, there is no Sri Lankan mandate. It is a divided mandate." On the course ahead for Sri Lanka, he said "a lot of questions arise" and the nation is "headed for a period of uncertainty."

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