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Sri Lanka election: Outsider candidate Maithripala Sirisena sworn in after storming to victory in huge upset | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Sri Lanka’s new president has vowed to scale back powers amassed by his predecessor after being sworn into office today. | |
Maithripala Sirisena was swept to power in an unpredictable election after he defeated the centre-left incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had led the country at the head of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party since 2005. | |
The new president’s election was considered a huge upset in Sri Lankan politics. Polls took place yesterday on 8th January. | |
Mr Sirisena, once a member of Mr Rajapaska’s ruling party and a health minister in his government, was backed by an all-encompassing opposition group called the New Democratic Front. | |
The group is comprised of a diverse coalition of political parties including the Sinhalese Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). | |
Mr Sirisena’s predecessor was criticised for amassing powers and increasing the influence of the office of President of Sri Lanka. He scrapped a two-term limit on his presidency using his parliamentary majority. | |
"With this victory we will implement the 100-day programme in our election manifesto," Mr Sirisena told cheering crowds in Colombo, the country’s largest city and commercial capital, after his swearing-in ceremony. | |
He also took the opportunity to criticise state-run media for their conduct during the campaign. | |
Mr Sirisena had promised to change Sri Lanka's constitution to return the country to a parliamentary system with a prime minister as its leader, and has pledged not to run for president a second time. | |
A teetotal Buddhist, he has a degree in agriculture and hails from the country’s ancient capital of Polonnaruwam, the centre of the country’s food producing region. | |
He has cultivated a folksy image, donning elements on traditional Sri Lankan peasant dress while campaigning. | |
Sri Lanka is a diverse country with a number of ethnic groups. The population is dominated by the large Sinhalese population, which is predominantly Buddhist, but it has a large Tamil minority, who are predominantly Hindu. The country also has sizable Muslim and Christian religious minority populations. | |
The country’s Tamil population is thought to have turned out in force to vote for Mr Sirisena, largely because they did not like the incumbent Mr Rajapaksa. | |
The new president received 51.2% of the votes in Thursday's election compared to 47.5% for the incumbent. |
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