Sri Lanka Elections and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s return

Sri Lanka Elections and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s return
Sri Lanka Elections and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s return

Sri Lanka Elections and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s return

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Sri Lankans will elect a new parliament next week. The big news out of this election cycle has been the decision by the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to run in this election. Rajapaksa was voted out of office earlier this year, when he was seeking a third term as president. He’s been accused of corruption and war crimes and says he’s decided to re-enter politics as the behest of the people. This time around he is looking at the position of prime minister. Alan Keenan, the Sri Lanka Project Director at the International Crisis Group joins us to discuss Rajapaksa’s return and next week’s vote. PHOTO: Protestors holding placards with anti-Rajapaksa slogans stand outside a Muslim burial ground as officials dig out the body of former international rugby player Wasim Thajudeen, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Aug 10, 2015. Sri Lankan investigators on Monday exhumed the body of the former international rugby player whose mysterious death three years ago was ruled an accident but is now suspected to have been a murder in which ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son is implicated.(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)