Voters queue at a polling station set up on the premises of a Buddhist temple to cast their ballots during Sri Lanka's presidential election in Colombo.
Sri Lanka began voting on Saturday in its presidential election. A ballot that could allow the return to power of the dreaded Rajapaksa clan who ruled the island with an iron fist for a decade.
Millions of Sri Lankans went to the polls on Saturday, November 16, to elect their new president.
Almost five years after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s electoral defeat, her younger brother Gotabaya, 70, is competing with the ruling party’s candidate, Sajith Premadasa, to take the head of the Sri Lankan state for the next five-year term.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local in the South Asian country and will close at 5 p.m. (1:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. GMT). Nearly 16 million voters are called to the polls. The results should be known on Sunday, or even Monday if the score is close.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Gotabaya Rajapaksa is for the occasion the representative of the powerful family of Rajapaksa. The former soldier was one of the keystones of the regime of his brother Mahinda (2005-2015), prevented by the current Constitution from running, and his election would mark the return to business of the siblings.
As the most senior defense ministry official at the time, Gotabaya was de facto in command of the Sri Lankan armies when the Tamil separatist rebellion was crushed in 2009, for the ultimate offensive in which 40,000 Tamil civilians perished according to human rights defenders.
This bloodbath signaled the end of 37 years of civil war, which left 100,000 dead, and earned the Rajapaksa to be adored within the Sinhalese ethnic majority, but hated and feared by the Tamil minority which constitutes 15% of the 21.6 million Sri Lankans.
“Death squads”
The strongman posture adopted by Gotabaya, which promises to fight corruption and Islamist extremism in a nation traumatized by the jihadist attacks of April 21 which killed 269 people, earned him the nickname of “Terminator” within his team. family.
In contrast, her main rival Sajith Premadasa, 52 and the son of a president assassinated by guerrillas in 1993, is a low-key politician who hopes to mobilize the women’s vote by promising to improve menstrual hygiene.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accused in particular – which he denies – of having led under the presidency of his brother “death squads” which kidnapped dozens of Tamils, political opponents and journalists on board white vans. Some of their bodies were then thrown on the road, others have never been found.
“If Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns, the culture of white vans will return,” said Alfonso, a half-Tamil Colombo resident, to AFP. “No one can speak out against him, no one, not just us” .
Many Muslims (10% of the population) are also worried about their plight in this predominantly Buddhist nation, especially since resentment has grown against them after the Easter attacks. As a result of these suicide attacks on Christian churches and luxury hotels, hundreds of Muslim homes and businesses have been attacked.
Dependence on China
After the end of the civil war in 2009, Gotabaya Rajapaksa “contributed to the opening of a new conflict front, which was the Sinhalese majority against the Muslims,” analyst Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu told AFP.
A return to power of the Rajapaksa is also of concern to neighboring India and the West because of the clan’s proximity to China.
Beijing has loaned billions of dollars to Sri Lanka during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s two terms for major infrastructure projects, a colossal debt that places this strategic country in the Indian Ocean in a situation of dependence on the China.
“Chinese entities have been credibly accused of fueling corruption, illegal funding to favor political candidates and inserting clauses violating national sovereignty in their infrastructure contracts , “ summed up Jeff Smith, a researcher at the ‘Heritage Foundation.
Illustrating the trap of this debt, Sri Lanka had to cede in 2017 for 99 years to China the port of Hambantota (south), after finding itself unable to repay a debt.
But, Jeff Smith believes, Gotabaya Rajapaksa could “have learned some lessons from his brother’s presidency, be aware of the risks of eroding democracy and human rights and over-dependence on China . “
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