RIYADH: As the momentum gathers for the Tuesday’s presidential election, political analysts say that the victory between the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka will be decided by minority Tamil and Muslim voters since the votes of the majority Sinhalese will be split between the two contenders.
“The two rival candidates in the election were given the most credit by their majority Sinhalese people for ending the civil war for a separate Tamil homeland, but as the polling date approaches it may be the minority Tamil and Muslim votes that decide the final outcome,” an analyst told Arab News Sunday.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the Jan. 26 election seeking another term although he had two more years remaining in his current one.
He is being challenged by a number of contenders, chief among them, retired army Gen. Sarath Fonseka.
Both were commended for spearheading the military’s victory last year that ended the 26-year-old campaign by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. About 70,000 people died in the war.
Around 40 observers from the Association of Asian Election Authorities will oversee the presidential elections on Tuesday.
