Sri Lanka Presidential election, 2010

[Verily]

No sign of a thread on this anywhere. The election is today/tomorrow, 26 January. The two main candidates are the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and opposition candidate and general Sarath Fonseka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_presidential_election,_2010

Amusingly, Fonseka is running on a joint ticket between the neo-liberal United National Party and the communist Janatha Vikmuni Peramuna, a sure sign that this election is not about economic ideology. Rajapaksa is a member of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance, which is also on the left. My impression is that Rajapaksa is somewhat more lenient towards the former LTTE than Fonseka, and that his continued tenure as President would be better for reconciliation, but I know very little. Fonseka has attempted to portray himself as an anti-corruption and reform candidate, so that may make him a better choice.

[Hash]

Rajapaksa was last elected as a hard-liner, and my impression is that the UPFA (SLFP) is the more nationalist of the two main parties.

[big bad fab]

What is ironic here is that both of them are trying to appeal to... Tamil voters !
especially Rajapaksa, who has to compensate for the fact that Fonseka can claim he is the real victor.
Though he was the harsh enforcer of the war on LTTE, Fonseka may be a more "efficient" man, with no need to prove his nationalism in power, so maybe more open.
And, of course, Fonseka isn't (yet ?) dirtied by nepotism.

[Nhoj]

There has been a fair amount of political violence dericted at the opposition.