Sri Lanka’s former president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa has been elected as leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), vowing to secure victory in elections and return to power.

Rajapaksa addressed a packed convention on Friday, where he was overwhelmingly elected as leader and made repeated references to the armed conflict which ended in 2009. The former president oversaw a military campaign that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, a period that has been the subject of several UN investigations. He is currently barred from entering Canada over the mass atrocities, which are increasingly being recognised as a genocide.

“In 2005, people asked us to protect the country from division,” he claimed, referring back to his first presidential election victory, which came on a pro-war platform. “No leader was able to end the war,” he told the party supporters.

“During the near-30-year war, no leader has been able to fight it with Prabhakaran face to face,” he continued. “Some leaders even gave weapons to the LTTE,” he said, referring to the armed Tamil liberation movement.

“I will not say who did it. Prabhakaran shot our war heroes with the same weapons. We did not allow such a war to continue for another leader.”

“The current youth don’t remember the fear of death that their parents felt. We are also forgetting that. We cannot blame the youth. However, certain political groups have managed to deceive them now. This is the same group that insulted our war heroes. The youth have fallen prey to both external and internal forces, inadvertently causing harm to the country.”

"The threats against Sri Lanka have not diminished in the least,” the veteran politician warned.

The newly elected SLPP leader also pledged to ensure justice for the party’s supporters who suffered injuries or had their properties damaged during the violence last year after SLPP supporters attacked ‘aragalaya’ protestors at Galle Face Green. “A commission should have been appointed, and an inquiry should have been carried out,” he said. The police did not apprehend the masterminds behind the incidents. The real criminals remain free, but their masks have been removed before the country. We will resolve the issue fairly someday.”

The convention was attended by Sri Lanka’s current Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena as well as several other ministers and MPs including Namal Rajapaksa, Johnston Fernando, Prasanna Ranatunge, Sagara Kariyawasam, Dhammika Perera, Tiran Alles, Jeevan Thondaman, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Gamini Lokuge and Tamil paramilitary leaders Douglas Devananda and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, also known as Pillaiyan.

Despite the wide attendance, party Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brother Basil Rajapaksa addressed the convention.

In his address, Basil Rajapaksa seemed to issue a warning. “We are like the lion,” said the younger Rajapaksa.

“If a stone is thrown at us we will turn back and see who it is. Don’t throw stones at us. We will take care of it in the future.”