Sri Lanka’s former army chief said yesterday he would run for president as head of a coalition of opposition parties, challenging President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an electoral battle that will pit the two war heroes against each other.
General Sarath Fonseka’s forces swept through the jungles of northern Sri Lanka and crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels in May. But Fonseka resigned two weeks ago, accusing the government of sidelining him after the end of the quarter-century civil war.
“Yes, I will contest as a common candidate of the opposition political alliance,” Fonseka said at a news conference that ended weeks of speculation.
PHOTO: AFP
He pledged to abolish the powerful executive presidency and return power to parliament, bring in laws to curb corruption and restore democracy.
He said he could no longer keep quiet about the “destruction and corruption taking place in the country.”
Fifteen opposition parties — all with little hope of defeating Rajapaksa on their own — have said they would support Fonseka in the Jan. 26 election.
Rajapaksa, who still has two years left in his six-year term, called early elections to take advantage of his popularity after the military ended the civil war. The victory made Rajapaksa and Fonseka heroes among the country’s Sinhalese majority.
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