COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday morning conceded defeat in presidential elections held on Thursday, even as trends showed a clear victory for united opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena was leading with 18,25,014 (51.62 %) votes and Rajapaksa was following him with 16,76,242 (47.23 %) votes at 7am on Friday. Rajapaksa left the presidential residence, Temple Trees, respecting the peoples verdict, an official spokesperson said. Rajapaksa assured a smooth transition of power. He reportedly had a meeting with UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wikramasinghe.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 04:42:37 +0000