newslanka.org

The government of Sri Lanka led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday denied any kind of involvement in the manipulation the presidential election
results. The Secretary General of the ruling United Peoples Freedom
Alliance (UPFA) government and a senior minister in Rajapaksa cabinet, Susil Premjayantha at a news briefing held Wednesday evening denied the allegation that a senior [...]

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake declared Wednesday
evening that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been elected sixth
executive president in Tuesday’s presidential election. President
Rajapaksa polled 6,015,934 (57.88 %) per cent of the vote against the
4,173,185 (40.15 %) secured by opposition common candidate Sarath
Fonseka.

Source: Human Rights Watch (New York) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key international actors should take steps to bring accountability for Sri Lanka’s grave human rights violations
so that the thousands of …

The reelection of Sri Lanka’s president – whom influential Tamil expats had bitterly opposed during the long civil war – has revived questions of what role they should play in their homeland.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory bodes well for his party in parliamentary elections due by April. Challenger Sarath Fonseka, whose hotel remains surrounded by armed troops, has refused to accept the results.

Jan 27, Colombo: Indian leaders expressed their congratulatory remarks on Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reelection for another term on Wednesday.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka’s first post-war national election on Wednesday, but his rival alleged vote-rigging from inside an hotel surrounded by soldiers which he said were sent to arrest him.

Source: Reuters (For more stories click [ID:nSRILANKA])

* Opposition’s Fonseka rejects result

* Fonseka alleges vote rigging, president denies this

* Two die in Buddhist temple grenade attack

(Adds …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa swept to a second term in office Wednesday, but his chief rival vowed to challenge the results and for hours insisted he was being held a virtual prisoner in a tony hotel surrounded by hundreds of soldiers.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been declared the winner of Sri Lanka’s presidential poll but the outcome was immediately rejected by his challenger.

A letter by Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka to the Elections Commission.

Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the opposition presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka has urged the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections to take steps to ensure his security, claiming there were attempts to arrest him. The movement of Fonseka
remains restricted as troops have surrounded the hotel. Meanwhile, Mahinda Rajapaksa [...]

The main opposition parties United National Party (UNP), Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Wednesday
evening at a hurriedly convened press briefing announced that they
have decided to request the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure freedom
of movement and adequate security to the common opposition candidate
General Sarath Fonseka.

Election related violence broke out in Gampola Wednesday morning. Two
persons including a Buddhist monk were killed in a hand grenade attack
between rival political parties in a suburb Thambiligala in Gampola.

Jan 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka who checked himself into a hotel claiming the government is planning to arrest him, has moved out of the hotel to his private residence a short while ago, sources said.

Jan 27, Colombo: The common opposition candidate for Sri Lanka presidential election General Sarath Fonseka seeks to annul the outcome of the historic post-war poll held Tuesday to elect the 6th Executive President.

Source: Reuters (For the main story, please click on [ID:nSGE60P0F7])

COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Former army chief General Sarath Fonseka lost to his old commander-in-chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on …

Jan 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe addressing a media briefing today said the opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka is free to leave the hotel he checked into last night at any time.

Jan 27, Colombo: The lack of sufficient transportation facilities for the displaced civilians to go to the polling centers was the major factor for the low voter turnout in the North, the monitoring groups said.

The incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has polled 2,960.507 (60.27%)
votes and General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, common opposition candidate
received 1,690,990 (37.99%) votes in eighty of a total of 160
electorates so far results announced. Mahinda Rajapakse is leading by
1, 097, 034 votes.

Jan 27, Colombo: Sri Lankan voters’ determination to cast their votes despite the fears of poll-day violence created by the two main political parties prior to election is an indication that the powers of the Election Commissioner need to be strengthened, said the election monitors.

Source: Reuters (For more stories click [ID:nSRILANKA])

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday won his second war in a year, crushing an electoral …

Source: Reuters (For the main story, please click on [ID:nnSGE60P0F7]) COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a landslide victory on Wednesday in an historic national poll called …

RSF says a number of Sri Lanka websites are blocked by the authorities in the run up to the presidential polls.

Jan 27, Colombo: The incumbent President Mahinda has been elected as the 6th Executive President of Sri Lanka today prompting island wide celebrations.

Heavily armed Sri Lankan forces have surrounded Wednesday Cinnamon Lake hotel in Colombo, where opposition presidential candidate and former Sri Lanka Army General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was residing with opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe and JVP leader Somawanse Amarasinghe. Sarath Fonseka, who is trailing in the presidential contest against his former Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa was [...]

The challenger in Sri Lanka’s presidential poll rejects the re-election victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Armed troops have gathered around the hotel where his rival for the presidency, General Sarath Fonseka, is staying in central Colombo.

The challenger in Sri Lanka’s presidential poll rejects the re-election victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Images from Sri Lanka as President Mahinda Rajapaksa declares victory in the bitterly-fought election.

President Rajapaksa wins re-election, says state TV, but his challenger says he rejects the reported result.

Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won a second term in office, the nations’s election commissioner said on Wednesday.

"I announce that Mahinda Rajapaksa has …

Presidential Election
All Island result:
Mahinda Rajapaksha 6,015,934 (57.88%)
Sarath Fonseka 4,173,185 (40.15%)
-Election Dept-JNW

Sri Lanka’s opposition candidate says he will challenge reported results showing the president has won re-election.

Soldiers surrounded the Colombo hotel where Sri Lanka’s opposition leader was staying Wednesday, hours after President Mahinda Rajapaksa was declared the winner of the country’s first peacetime election in more than two decades.

In the thirty five electorates seats of 160 seats announced up to 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sri Lanka’s current President Mahinda Rajapaksa won twenty seven electorates and the rest went to General Sarath Fonseka.The total votes polled by Mahinda Rajapakse has risen to 1,285,074 (59.63) against Gen Sarath Fonseka’s 830,554 (38.54) votes.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won Sri Lanka’s presidential elections with a clear margin. About 100 armed troops have surrounded the Colombo hotel where Gen Sarath Fonseka, is staying.

Sri Lanka Presidential Challenger Seeks Pledge Of Foreign Protection - Spokesman

Jan 27, Colombo: There is no move by the Sri Lankan government to arrest the opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka or any of his political allies now holed up in a in a five star hotel in Colombo, the military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told media today.

Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka who is at a hotel in Colombo surrounded by the militar..

There is no restriction on Gen Fonseka’s movements; he is receiving protection at a Colombo hotel & been asked to limit his movements-Min Rambukwella-JNW

No major violence is reported in the election between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former top general, Sarath Fonseka. Turnout among minority Tamils is sparse in some areas. Early returns today showed Sri Lanka’s president ahead of his estranged former army chief in their bitter race to win the country’s first presidential election after its [...]

Sri Lanka’s presidential challenger Sarath Fonseka on Wednesday sought protection of a “neighbouring country” to guarantee his safety, his spokesman Mano Ganeshan said.

Source: Reuters (For more stories click [ID:nSRILANKA])

COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won a second term in office, state-run Rupavahini television reported on Wednesday.

…

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse was set for re-election Wednesday after counting showed he had secured more than 50 percent of total votes cast in a bitterly fought election.

Colombo District final result:
Mahinda Rajapaksha – 614,740 (52.93%)
Sarath Fonseka -533,022 (45.90%)
Election Dept-JNW

Jan 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka was unanimously elected as the Chair of the Asia Pacific (ASPAC) Group of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently at its 1st Plenary Meeting of the Grouping held at the UNESCO headquarters.

Police curfew imposed in Gampola, Kuruduwatte and Nawalapitiya in Kandy district after two people die in an explosion-Police Spokesman-JNW

Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Two people were killed on Wednesday when a grenade was thrown into a Buddhist temple in the central Sri Lanka town of Gampola, as the nation remained tense in the aftermath …

Sri Lanka’s top opposition candidate said troops had surrounded his hotel on Wednesday, after polling in Sri Lanka’s first post-war presidential election ended with the revelation that he was not a registered voter.

Jan 27, Colombo: From the results released so far including the postal votes by the Elections Department, incumbent President, Mahinda Rajapaksa is clearly heading for the victory with nearly 60 percent of votes. A complete breakdown of results by province is given below for regular votes and postal votes.

Min D Allahapperuma says Mahinda Rajapaksa is heading for a significant victory which will help unify country & bring a brighter future-JNW

Sri Lanka Troops Surround Presidential Challenger’s Hotel -Military

Galle District – Final Result
Mahinda Rajapaksa- 386,971 (63.6%)
Sarath Fonseka- 211,633 (34.8%)
-Election Dept-JNW

Sri Lanka’s President Rajapaksa is ahead according to early results of the first presidential election since the end of its civil war.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has taken early lead in almost all the province over his riva..

Colombo district:
Kotte electorate.
Mahinda Rajapaksha 29,125 52.17%
Sarath Fonseka 26,129 46.81%
-Election Dept-JNW

Sri Lanka companies may report earnings growth of at least 25 percent this year, helping to boost the nation’s stocks, Asia’s best performers last year, according to First Guardian Equities.