Rajapakse wins, but not the hearts of minorities

Colombo: Mahinda Rajapakse was re-elected for a second term as Sri Lanka's president on Wednesday.

Official results showed Rajapakse winning 57.8 per cent of 10.4 million votes cast, against 40.2 per cent for former army commander General Sarath Fonseka.

Supporters of opposition parties were shocked to see their common candidate, Fonseka, performing far below expectations. Rajapakse bagged a little less than two-thirds of valid votes, although it was less than what his party got three months ago in provincial polls.

Rajapakse's party, the United People's Freedom Alliance, which recently won the war against the Tamil Tigers, failed to win the support of not only the Tamils, but also of the second and the third largest minority communities — Muslims in the east and the Indian-origin Tamils in the centre.

People were somewhat distracted from the results yesterday by reports that a hotel in the heart of Colombo had been surrounded by the army since Election Night.

Army spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara attributed this to alleged army deserters holding up inside the hotel with Fonseka. One side of the road in front of the hotel had been closed.