Sri Lanka election results

We have a winner, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa carrying 57.8% of votes cast.

The other major candidate, retired General Sarath Fonseka, is said to challenge the results, but rumors of his going into revolt or about to be arrested appear to be false. Time will tell, but it looks like things will be as stable as they get in Sri Lankan politics.

The big story of the election was that while there were great hopes that the minority populations in the recently liberated north and east would come out for the polls, only perhaps a tenth of voters in that region came to the polls. That's a pity for more reasons than merely the fact that Fonseka was counting on them to have a shot at winning... it is a pity because the future of Sri Lanka will be far brighter when everyone believes in the democratic system enough to participate.