a new era?

crackers are going off around colombo as prime minister mahinda rajapakse wins the presidential election in sri lanka. the ltte helped of course by preventing people from jaffna and the wanni from voting in the election. however, clearly, the sinhalese majority decided that a tougher line needs to be taken with the rebels - even if this could mean war. in addition, they felt that the marxist jvp party could be trusted to take on more power in the country and for good measure are obviously comfortable with a controlled economy. even on the southern coastal belt where the lack of government action for those effected by the tsunami was clear, the support for rajapakse was overwhelming. the message is clear as mud. sinhalese first, country second.

check this link from reuters for an immediate comment on the result ( Link)

check this link for a detailed analysis of the results (Link)

as for moi, i am going home to refer my old gardening book on "how to grow manioc for dummies" and my copy of "how dummies survive a war".