Nov 19 (AT) In a broadcast over Tamil Tiger radio in Kilinochochi, V.Balakumar, a senior leader of the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said that the victory of Mahinda Rajapakse will pave the way for the future victory of V. Prabhakaran. more..

Nov 19 (TO) Those who have accused the separatist Tamil Tigers of bad faith in peace negotiations can draw powerful evidence from Sri Lanka’s presidential election. The brutally enforced boycott of the polls in the predominantly Tamil north and east of the island meant that, in some constituencies, less than 1 per cent of the population voted. more..

Nov 19 (CP) The fifth presidential election of Sri Lanka held on Thursday was marked with uneven turnout among regions. Christians, meanwhile, expressed deep concern as candidates are uncertain on their social policies. more..

Nov 19 (TO) SRI LANKA elected Mahinda Rajapakse President yesterday. He is a hardliner who has promised to tear up a peace agreement with the rebel separatists known as the Tamil Tigers, prompting fears of a return to civil war. more..

Nov 19 (AN) It is hard not to be pessimistic about the outcome of Sri Lanka’s presidential election which has voted into power Mahinda Rajapakse, the governing SLFP’s candidate, on a promise to get tough with Tamil separatists and renegotiate the already fragile peace accord. more..

Nov 19 (TI) There were concerns for the future of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka yesterday after a hardliner who opposes demands for autonomy from the Tamil Tiger rebels was elected president. Mahindra Rajapakse beat the architect of the 2002 ceasefire that ended more than two decades of civil war, Ranil Wickramasinghe, more..

Nov 19 (LS) Mahinda Rajapaksha, who turned 60 on the 18th, received the best Birthday gift that any politicians could dream of. He reached the zenith of his political career by becoming the executive president of Sri Lanka, the highest and the most powerful post in the country with enormous powers. more..

Nov 19 (PSL) Bidding for Black Gold in Sri Lanka is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2006, Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha said. The Minister also noted that the third Seismic test will begin in November and will be completed within six to eight weeks. more..

Nov 19 (PIS) The Government of Japan yesterday announced that it “strongly hopes that under the leadership of President Rajapakse, the peace process will be reinvigorate with a view to achieving the negotiated settlement.” more..

Nov 19 (PIS) UPFA presidential candidate and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse secured a slim majority of 180,786 or 50.29% of the total votes polled, to be declared the winner of Thursday’s presidential poll, which remained a close fight to the finish. more..

Nov 19 (AP) Mahinda Rajapakse, set be sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president, faces the daunting task of forging a permanent peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels or risk a return to civil war in the tropical island. more..

Nov 19 (AAP) Sri Lanka's rebel LTTE is involved in people smuggling to Australia, it was claimed on Saturday. The smuggling of Sri Lankans and other nationals from South Asia to Australia and other destinations came to light after a failed bid to smuggle more than 100 people in early September, diplomatic and intelligence reports say. more..

Nov 19 (KT) THE inescapable conclusion from the presidential poll in Sri Lanka is that, it is the rebels, the LTTE, who helped prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse win the election. This, even as his closest rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is reputed to be the one who did the most to solve the Tamil issue in recent years. more..

Nov 19 (IB) Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia congratulated Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse for his victory in the presidential election and expressed her desire to work closely with him for further strengthening the Dhaka-Colombo bilateral relations. more..

Nov 19 (FT) Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka's president-elect, will reverse several tough measures contained in the country's recent budget to meet his election promises to the rural poor, his senior economic adviser said yesterday. more..

Nov 19 (Reuters) Sri Lanka increased security on Saturday ahead of the swearing-in of the country's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, with observers keen to see what stance the perceived hardliner would take with Tamil Tiger rebels. more..

Nov 19 (LM) SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem congratulated the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse on his victory at the November 17 Presidential polls and said he sincerely hoped that the new president would take genuine steps to guarantee political, economic rights and the security of the Muslims in the country. more..

Nov 19 (SLA) * Mortal remains of Home Guard and civilian killed by LTTE found
* Police Post under suspected Tamil Tiger attack
* Small arms fire from LTTE area heard
* STF in AKKARAIPATTU under attack
* Armed Tamil Tigers’ movement observed
* Suspected Tamil Tiger lobs grenade at troops
* Transport of essential items to un-cleared areas continues more..

Nov 19 (LM) At around 10.00 a.m. this morning goons of Minister Athullah, lead by his Secretary Uthuman Lebbe have attacked the shop of Kaleel, a strong SLMC supporter in Attalachenai. A motorcycle belonging to Kaleel parked opposite his shop was fully destroyed by theses thugs. more..

Nov 19 (LT) According to internal sources in the UNP its leader and the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe is to announce his resignation from politics tomorrow. These sources indicate that a new leader is to be appointed to the UNP and most probably Mr. Karau Jayasuriya would fill the post. more..

Nov 19 (SLBC) Sri Lanka’s Catholics Bishops Conference extends wishes and congratulations to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on his election as the 5th executive president of Sri Lanka. The conference expressed the confidence that the Prime Minister will guide the country to the path of peace. more..

Nov 19 (SLBC) The Jathika Hela Urumaya stresses that everybody should reach a consensus eschewing all differences in the aftermath of the presidential election. Issuing a release General secretary of the JHU Parliamentarian Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera says policies put forward by the Prime Minister for the presidential election have been approved by all communities in the country. more..

Nov 19 (TW) Chandrika Kumaratunge will cease to be the executive president of the unitary state of Sri Lanka within the next couple of weeks. It is opportune to review her performance with relation to the ethnic politics in Sri Lanka over the past eleven years and the legacy she leaves behind, while wishing her Bon Adieu. more..

Nov 19 (TW) I have always wished you well — although we were poles apart in politics. But I consider you a better friend of mine than Ranil. These are not empty words and I said so to Ranil’s mother in the presence of Ilika Karunaratne and Janaka Edirisinghe — the latter of Edirisinghe Opticians fame. more..

Nov 19 (SAMN) The Tamil National Alliance yesterday said they were waiting for the new President to define his stance on the ethnic issue and would be “closely watching” him prior to deciding their next step on the peace effort. more..

Nov 19 (SAMN) Following the mammoth contributions made to the landslide victory UNP leader clinched in the Eastern province, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said yesterday that the SLMC dissidents should take the cue from the two presidential candidates, as to how loyalty to leadership, patience and perseverance had elevated them to where they are today. more..

Nov 19 (SAMN) The Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera early this week highlighted Sri Lanka’s tremendous potential to move into high-value addition organic farming. “There is a tremendous potential to enhance revenue by adding value and adopting organic farming techniques,” Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara said, more..

Nov 19 (LNP) The UNP is under heavy pressure to re-think its strategy vis-a-vis the LTTE after Thursday`s extraordinary polls defeat engineered by the LTTE. The LTTE prevented a sure Wickremesinghe victory, a party official said asserting that it was part of the group`s strategy. more..

Nov 19 (LNP) Parliamentarian Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera yesterday expressed his support to the newly elected UPFA President Mahinda Rajapakse. Issuing a statement to the media, Ven. Dhammaloka blessed the new President and stated that the contribution made by JVP to make Mahinda Rajapakse the President was commendable. more..

Nov 19 (LNP) The Lion of Giruvapattu couldn`t have cherished any gift more than what he was given on his birthday yesterday. He, with decades of experience as a parliamentarian, minister, Leader of Opposition and Prime Minister, becomes the fifth executive president to rule this country. Congratulations! more..

Nov 19 (ANN) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, from the nuclear political family of Giruwapattuwa, yesterday (Nov 18) reached the highest elected office in the country, that of Executive President. more..

Nov 19 (DN) PRESIDENTIAL elections have been held previously in 1982, 1988, 1994 and 1999. This election marked an increase in the registered number of voters over the last Presidential Poll when there were only 11,779,200 voters. more..

Nov 19 (UNI) MDMK General Secretary Vaiko today alleged the presidential victory of Mahinda Rajapakse in Sri Lanka will affect the peace initiatives taken by Norway. Talking to newspersons at the Airport here, he said "basic rights for Tamils living in Sri Lanka had not been given for the past so many year and this would continue now." more..

Nov 19 (AFP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has relinquished her office, ending 11 turbulent years in power and bringing down the curtain on the Bandaranaike dynasty. She came to power in 1994 promising to abolish the all-powerful presidency but in the end fought and lost a legal battle to cling to the office for a further year. more..

Nov 19 (AP) The European Union's chief election monitor on Saturday condemned Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels for allegedly blocking ethnic Tamils from voting in the country's recent presidential election. more..

Nov 19 (AFP) The United States has condemned what it called interference by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels in the island's democratic process, saying the rebels intimidated voters in just concluded presidential elections. more..

Nov 19 (AP) Mahinda Rajapakse, who has promised to re-examine a truce with Tamil rebels, was sworn in Saturday as Sri Lanka's new president. Rajapakse won a tightly contested election on Thursday, narrowly defeating his main challenger, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in a vote marred by a rebel boycott that prevented thousands of ethnic Tamils from casting ballots. more..

Nov 19 (AFP) Sri Lanka's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, the previous hardline prime minister, has pledged peace and offered an olive branch to Tamil Tiger rebels. Rajapakse, Sri Lanka's fifth president, promised to respect a 2002 ceasefire with the LTTE but warned he wanted the Norway-brokered truce reviewed. more..

Nov 19 (Hindu) The election of Mahinda Rajapakse as Sri Lanka's seventh President heralds a new chapter in the country's troubled history. The paradoxical factors behind his hard-worked victory offer a hint about how the plot may unfold. more..

Nov 19 (AP) Norway said it is willing to stay on as a peace broker in Sri Lanka if asked by the hawkish newly elected President and the Tamil Tiger rebels. President-elect Mahinda Rajapakse, campaigned on a promise to revisit the uneasy truce brokered by Norway in 2002 that halted two bloody decades of civil war. more..

Nov 19 (AFP) Sri Lanka's new President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday announced he would ditch the national budget for 2006 pending before parliament after it was presented by his predecessor two weeks ago. Shortly after he was sworn in as the fifth executive head of state, Rajapakse said he would also have a brand new cabinet and unveil a new budget that will incorporate the election promises he made in his manifesto. more..

Nov 19 (AP) Sri Lanka's new President Mahinda Rajapakse, left, waves to supporters as his three sons look on during the swearing-in-ceremony in Colombo, Saturday. more..

Nov 20 (wsws) The formal declaration of the poll in the presidential election took place at 1.30 p.m. yesterday at the Election Commissioner’s office in Colombo amid a heavy military presence. The ceremony was broadcast live on state-owned radio and TV and on many of the private TV channels. more..

Nov 20 (TW) The LTTE made its presence felt in Presidential election by disenfranchising a large segment of the North - Eastern Tamil people. Despite dubious claims to being the sole representatives of the Tamil people the LTTE had to unleash a "terror" campaign against innocent civilians to enforce what it called a "purakkanippu" or boycott of the Presidential poll. more..

Nov 20 (AT) A situation has arisen for President Chandrika Kumaratunga to leave the party leadership with Mahinda Rajapakse after he won the just concluded Presidential Elections. President Kumaratunga did not relinquish her duties as the leader of the party, when she offered the candidature to Mahinda Rajapakse as the Party’s nominee in the Presidential Elections. more..

Nov 20 (AT) The newly elected President after taking oaths of office will be accorded with a ceremonial welcome with a guard of honor and a twenty-one gun salute at the Presidential secretariat. more..

Nov 20 (LBO) Former finance minister Sarath Amunugama arrived late for the inauguration of President Mahinda Rajapakse today, but quickly got into the swing of things by applauding when the new leader was outlining economic policy. more..

Nov 20 (BBC) Chandrika Kumaratunga has now stepped down after 11 years as president of Sri Lanka, leaving opinion divided as to her legacy. When in 1994 Mrs Kumaratunga first campaigned for the powerful executive presidency she made it clear that she was all for a negotiated political solution with the Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a independent home land in the north and east of the island. more..

Nov 20 (AT) The TNA yesterday said that they are waiting for President Mahinda Rajapakse to make the first move with regard to peace and the party will make their stand known accordingly. TNA also said that they were ready to support the new President in his peace bid based on nothing but a “federal solution”. more..

Nov 20 (AT) Shortly after the counting began at the polling centers Mahinda Rajapakse took the early lead and he never looked back until he was declared the winner. Ranil Wickremesinghe was breathing down his neck but in the end he was beaten by a whisker at the winning post. more..