Sri Lanka's future after the historic election

Singapore

WHEN Mahinda Rajapaksa called for an early presidential election last November, with no strong opposition candidate, his victory was clear. But a week after this announcement, Maithripala Sirisena announced his resignation as health minister to stand as a presidential candidate and changed the course of Sri Lanka's history.

In a historic turn, about 40 political parties jointly chose him as a common candidate to run against Mr Rajapaksa. Two months later, amid huge public celebrations, Jan 9, 2015, saw the shocking end of a decade-long rule by Mr Rajapaksa and the swearing in of Mr Sirisena as the seventh president of Sri Lanka.