Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa convincingly defeated his main rival, former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka, by 58 per cent (6.0m votes) to 40 per cent votes (4.2m) — a margin of 18 points — in the island’s presidential election held last Tuesday. The turnout was high: of the 14m registered voters 74 per cent turned out to vote. But the large margin of victory was a surprise to many.

The Sinhalese account for 75 per cent of the electorate, Sri Lankan Tamils of the north and east for 12 per cent, “plantation” Tamils 6 per cent and Muslims 7 per cent.

Rajapaksa campaigned mainly on the war victory against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in 2009 and on a promise to develop the economy. Fonseka tried to blunt Rajapaksa’s attempt to claim credit for the war victory by pointing out that he was the commander who led the forces to victory. He also criticised the Rajapaksa administration for corruption and high cost of living.

Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was a coalition of parties dominated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that he headed. In contrast, General Fonseka was a political novice invited to contest the election by an improbable coalition that formed last November. He had the backing of, among others, the right-of-centre United National Party (UNP), the Marxist-Nationalist People’s Liberation Front or JVP, the Tamil National Alliance or TNA — which many regarded as a surrogate for the LTTE — and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. The plantation Tamil political leadership was also mostly with this coalition. And just before polling day, former president Chandrika Kumaratunga urged her supporters to vote for Fonseka.

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