Sri Lanka's controversial president Mahinda Rajapaksa risks losing power
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was confident enough to call the election two year early - but he could lose office on Thursday
By David Blair
7:00AM GMT 08 Jan 2015
One of Asia’s most controversial leaders could lose power on Thursday when Sri Lanka holds a presidential election that has been transformed from a formality into a knife-edge contest.
After a decade in power, President Mahinda Rajapaksa felt confident enough to call this election two years earlier than necessary. Having won the last poll with almost 60 per cent of the vote, he clearly felt confident of achieving another triumph.
Yet one of Mr Rajapaksa’s own ministers has chosen to resign from the cabinet and challenge his master. Maithripala Sirisena, once the health minister, is running against Mr Rajapaksa - and opinion polls suggest that the president could lose on Thursday.
Mr Sirisena decided to run after sharing a convivial dinner with Mr Rajapaksa last November. Over rice-flour pancakes, the president jokingly observed how he would face no serious opposition in the coming election.
At that moment, Mr Sirisena decided to become the challenger. “I came out because I could not stay any more with a leader who had plundered the country, government and national wealth,” he later explained.
Both Mr Sirisena and Mr Rajapaksa come from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority. The outcome of the election could be decided by the Tamil minority. The results may be announced as early as Friday.
Diplomats in Colombo predict a close contest. Some have even checked the rules on what would happen in the event of a dead heat. Under these circumstances, the two contenders would draw lots for the presidency.
