ISAS Briefs

The Sri Lankan election result was a stunner to many. An incumbent president has never been defeated before and this was the first time that it happened with the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election held on 8 January 2015. Although the margin of the incoming President Maithripala Sirisena's victory was thin, he managed to make substantial inroads in the majority Sinhala - Buddhist vote base (70% of the population) of Rajapaksa. This, capped by overwhelming support from the minority communi ties in Sri Lanka (Tamils and Muslims) enabled Sirisena to romp home.