Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa takes lead in election
Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surround hotel where opposition candidate is holed up as early election results come in
Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surrounded the hotel where the opposition candidate is holed up today as early returns from the nation’s hard-fought presidential election gave the incumbent a comfortable lead.
The military deployment reflected the tensions surrounding the race between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army commander Sarath Fonseka.
The two men are considered war heroes by the Sinhalese majority for leading the country to victory in its long civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels just eight months ago, but a bitter falling out pushed Fonseka to quit, join the opposition and challenge the president.
Throughout the campaign, the opposition accused Rajapaksa of plotting to rig the vote and steal the election. Fonseka himself was unable to vote on Tuesday because he was not registered. It was unclear if he had failed to register or if he tried and was left off the voter rolls.
Initial results today showed Rajapaksa leading with 3,563,634 votes compared to 2,209,214 for Fonseka, a 23 percentage point difference There are some 14 million registered voters, and the overall turnout during Tuesday’s polling was around 70%.
As the results were being announced, troops surrounded the Cinnamon Lake Hotel after about 400 people, including alleged army deserters, had gathered inside with Fonseka, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
“We don’t know what’s their motive and as a protective measure, we have deployed troops around the hotel and people who go in and come out are being checked,” Nanayakkara told The Associated Press. He said that there were no plans to arrest Fonseka.
Jehan Perera, a political analyst in Colombo, called the military presence at the hotel “absolutely unprecedented”.
“It reflects the suspicion and the level of mistrust,” Perera said.
Attempts to reach Fonseka were not immediately successful.
Fonseka remains popular with the troops he led to victory against the Tamil Tigers after 25 years of civil war, and the government is worried that he might claim electoral fraud and then try to rally his former soldiers, Perera said.
The race has been acrimonious from the start, with the general accusing his former boss of entrenched corruption and the president branding Fonseka a dictator-in-waiting. Rights groups have accused Rajapaksa of misusing state resources – including monopolising coverage on state TV – to bolster his campaign.
State media interspersed reports of initial returns today with songs and programming featuring Rajapaksa, and informationminister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation that the results so far show the president “heading for a historic victory”.
No major violence was reported during yesterday’s polling in an election that was seen as a first step in an attempt at recovery after decades of conflict.
After the polls closed, government officials said they would seek to disqualify Fonseka’s candidacy because he was not registered to vote, but the electoral commissioner later issued a statement saying that Fonseka’s voting status was irrelevant to his candidacy.
While voting among the Sinhalese majority appeared to be strong, turnout was sparse in some northern Tamil areas, where the most intense fighting drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.
The minority community had been expected to support Fonseka and play a possibly pivotal role in the results.
Rajapaksa campaigned on his war record and his promises to bring development to the nation. Fonseka promised to trim the powers of the presidency and empower parliament .
Some observers fear that a dispute over the results could lead to street protests and violence.
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