THREE MAIN PLAYERS

The three main players in the volatile political scene of backstabbing and shifting sands in the strategically important Indian Ocean island of 21 million people

THE QUIET SRI LANKAN

MILD- MANNERED BUT STEELY- NERVED PRESIDENT MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA, 67, WAS RELATIVELY UNKNOWN UNTIL HIS SHOCK DEFEAT OF MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 2015. SIRISENA HAD WALKED OUT OF RAJAPAKSA’S GOVERNMENT A DAY AFTER THE TWO MEN HAD DINNER TOGETHER, AND ACCUSED HIS FORMER ALLY OF PLOTTING TO ASSASSINATE HIM IF HE LOST THE ELECTION. “IF I HAD NOT WON THE PRESIDENCY, I WOULD BE SIX FEET UNDER BY NOW,” HE TOLD A PUBLIC RALLY AFTER HIS WIN. USUALLY DRESSED IN SPOTLESS WHITE, SIRISENA VOWED TO DO ALL IN HIS POWER TO STOP THE HIGHLY DIVISIVE RAJAPAKSA BECOMING PM AND APPOINTED RANIL WICKREMESINGHE INSTEAD.

MACHO MAHINDA

HAVING LOANED HIS GOVERNMENT BILLIONS, CHINA SWIFTLY CONGRATULATED RAJAPAKSA, ( 72), ON HIS NEW APPOINTMENT BUT INDIA AND THE WEST WERE LESS PLEASED — TO SAY LITTLE OF THE TAMIL MINORITY. AS PRESIDENT FROM 2005 UNTIL 2015, RAJAPAKSA ENDED SRI LANKA’S FOUR- DECADE CIVIL WAR IN 2009 BY CRUSHING THE TAMIL TIGERS. BUT 40,000 ETHNIC TAMILS WERE ALLEGEDLY MASSACRED IN THE PROCESS. SRI LANKA’S MEDIA, REMEMBERING THE 17 JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA WORKERS KILLED UNDER RAJAPAKSA, ARE ALSO FEARFUL ABOUT HIS COMEBACK. HE AND HIS FAMILY ARE ALSO ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION. BUT WITH HIS TRADEMARK MACHO MOUSTACHE, TRADITIONAL NATIONAL DRESS AND OUTSIZE PERSONALITY, RAJAPAKSA REMAINS A HERO FOR MANY SINHALESE, DEFTLY PORTRAYING HIMSELF AS A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. “A GENERAL ELECTION WILL TRULY ESTABLISH THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE AND MAKE WAY FOR A STABLE COUNTRY,” HE TWEETED IN THE EARLY HOURS OF SATURDAY.

WESTERN STYLE DRESSER, PRO- WEST LEADER

SILVER- HAIRED AND OFTEN IN WESTERN- STYLE SUITS, WICKREMESINGHE HAS BEEN PM FOUR TIMES, THE FIRST TIME AFTER THE TAMIL TIGERS ASSASSINATED THE THENPRESIDENT IN 1993. DURING HIS 2001- 4 TIME IN OFFICE, WICKREMESINGHE IS CREDITED WITH PULLING SRI LANKA OUT OF ITS FIRST EVER RECESSION, IN PART WITH REFORMS THAT HAVE ENDEARED HIM TO THE WEST. “YOU HAVE NOT LET THIS COUNTRY BE PLUNGED INTO THE DARKNESS OF DICTATORSHIP,” WICKREMESINGHE SAID IN A VIDEO MESSAGE ON THURSDAY THANKING HIS SUPPORTERS.