Rajapaksa elected Sri Lanka’s president

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

Colombo: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been elected the seventh Executive President of Sri Lanka and will take the oath on Monday at the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.

The Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya said that Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential Candidate Rajapaksa who contested under the flower bud symbol emerged as the winner of the 2019 presidential election.

Releasing the final report of the Presidential Election 2019, the Elections Commission said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) received 6,924,255 votes (52.25%) and Sajith Premadasa (New Democratic Front) 5,564,239 votes (41.99%)

“I am grateful for the opportunity to be the President, not only of those who voted for me, but as the President of all Sri Lankans,” Rajapaksa posted in a tweet. “The trust you have invested in me is deeply moving and being your president will be the greatest honour of my life.”

Rajapaksa, a former army colonel, served as secretary of defense when his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was president between 2005 and 2010.