DEFEAT OF A DICTATOR SRI LANKA SHOWS THE WAY timesofindia.indiatimes/world/south-asia/Mahinda-Rajapaksa-concedes-defeat-in-Sri-Lankan-presidential-poll/articleshow/45817219.cms Mahinda Rajapaksa concedes defeat in Sri Lankan presidential poll Karthick S,TNN | Jan 9, 2015, 07.22 AM IST COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday morning conceded defeat in presidential elections held on Thursday, even as trends showed a clear victory for united opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena was leading with 18,25,014 (51.62 %) votes and Rajapaksa was following him with 16,76,242 (47.23 %) votes at 7am on Friday. Rajapaksa left the presidential residence, Temple Trees, respecting the peoples verdict, an official spokesperson said. Rajapaksa assured a smooth transition of power. He reportedly had a meeting with UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wikramasinghe. The counting of votes started at 5pm on Thursday. Sirisena got a huge support from the minority dominant north, east, and northern west provinces. Tamil majority Northern Province largely voted for him. While Sirisena secured 2,53,574 votes in Jaffna district, Rajapaksa got only 74,454 votes. Similarly, Sirisena secured 80.5 percent votes in Vanni, and Rajapaksa secured only 19.5 percent of votes there. Sirisena was leading in countrys capital Colombo also. Rajapaksa, who dominated politics for a decade, faced an unexpected challenge from Sirisena, his former cabinet colleague.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 08:16:53 +0000
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