Content warning: rape, murder

Indian’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa, after his Sinhala nationalist party obtained a two-thirds majority in parliament, stating that New Delhi is looking to “work very closely with the new Government and Parliament in Sri Lanka for further strengthening comprehensive bilateral cooperation”.

Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa-led government has already shown that it “will wear its majoritarianism on its sleeve,” warned The Indian Express in its editorial looking at the outcome of the island’s parliamentary polls, adding that the Tamil national question “remains an unhealed wound”.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief R Sampanthan said that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) “bribed its way into winning a lot of seats by dispensing money and liquor to the people,” as he addressed the press in Trincomalee.

The extremist leader of the Sinhala nationalist organization Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), monk Gnanasara, has been appointed to Sri Lanka’s parliament through the national list.

He has been appointed through the “Our Power of the People Party,” which received 67,758 votes and was allocated one national list seat. 

Sarath Weerasekara, a retired Rear Admiral for Sri Lanka’s Navy and Rajapaksa ally, has called for the abolition of the 19^th amendment following a successful bid for the Colombo District during the parliamentary elections where he gained the highest preferential votes.

Following the landslide victory by the Rajapaksa’s in the country’s parliamentary election, which they effectively secured a two-thirds majority, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that the country’s leadership is “waging a campaign of fear and intimidation against human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and others challenging government policy”.

The Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) M A Sumanthiran responded to what he called “very strange” allegations of vote-rigging this morning, as controversy continued over a dramatic late night recount in an intra-party battle over preferential votes, that saw Sri Lankan troops attack Tamils in Jaffna.

In this interview, we speak to the leader of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, who won a seat in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections yesterday.

We discuss the path forward for international accountability, Tamil-Muslim politics, the role of the Tamil diaspora and his response to criticism the party has faced in the past.

In this interview, we speak to the leader of the Thamizh Makkal Thesiya Kootani (TMTK), the former Supreme Court Justice and former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran, who won a seat in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections yesterday.

We discuss the prospects of international justice, Tamil-Muslim unity, economic development and his response to criticism over his tenure as Chief Minister of the Northern Province.

Hanspeter Mock, the Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka joined other states in congratulating the Rajapaksa brothers on their victory in yesterday's parliamentary elections. 

He tweeted: 

The Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Trine Joranli Eskedal also tweeted:

The statue of former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and human rights lawyer, Nadarajah Raviraj was covered with several different cloths following a recount controversy involving two TNA candidates in Jaffna last night. 

Nadarajah Raviraj’s statue in Chavakachcheri was covered in black cloth on his face and red and yellow cloth on the bottom half of his statue this morning.