Sri Lanka elects hardline scourge of Tamils
Ex-defence chief becomes president after campaign on security following Easter terror attacks
SRI LANKANS yesterday elected a former defence chief, who led a brutal crackdown on Tamil Tiger separatists, as their president, raising fears among the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.
The poll was seen as a popularity test of the United National Party (UNP) government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which has been accused of ignoring intelligence that could have helped prevent the deadly Easter Sunday terror attacks on churches and tourists.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 70, who served as defence secretary during his brother Mahinda’s 2005-15 presidency, clinched 52.25 per cent of the vote after a campaign that focused on security in the wake of the terror attacks.
He beat rival Sajith Premadasa, the son of a former prime minister who was assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber during the country’s civil war.
Mr Rajapaksa faces a series of international war crime charges for his role in crushing the Tamil insurgency, and has been accused of torture and abduction of rebels and civilians, including journalists and rights activists during the civil war, which ended in 2009.
He is also accused of condoning sexual violence and extrajudicial killings – claims he has denied.
His campaign promising a strong national security policy boosted his popularity among the Sinhala Buddhist population, following the Easter Sunday bombings by a homegrown Islamist group that killed 259 people, including eight Britons.
He is also hailed as a war hero by most Sinhalese for ending a three-decade bloody war against the Tamil Tigers.
The country’s majority Sinhala Buddhist population comprises about 70 per cent of the island, with ethnic Tamil Hindus at 12.6 per cent, Muslims at 10 per cent and Christians at 8 per cent.
But the divisive politics of the Rajapaksas, who are backed by extremist Buddhist clergy who have been responsible for past attacks on minority Muslims and Christians, have raised fears of a Rajapaksa dynasty comeback.
As Mr Rajapaksa prepared to be sworn in as the island’s new president on Monday in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura, the minority communities in the North and East who voted for Mr Premadasa, said they were fearful for the future.
The usually vibrant northern city of Jaffna was eerily quiet on Sunday, with Tamils openly saying they were scared.
“The elected president makes us uneasy,” said Ramakrishnan, a 65-yearold retired teacher from Jaffna.
“We don’t know what will happen. We expected Mr Premadasa to become president. This is the first time in history the Tamil people have voted for a Sinhalese candidate in such overwhelming numbers.”