Rajapakse concedes poll defeat

COLOMBO, Jan 9 (agencies): Maithripala Sirisena will be sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president Friday after the strongman incumbent conceded defeat in a bitterly fought election, brought down by charges of corruption and growing authoritarianism.

A top aide to Mahinda Rajapakse said the outgoing president accepted the decision of voters who turned out in force on Thursday, in a remarkable turnaround for a leader who had appeared certain of victory when he called snap polls in November.

"The president concedes defeat and will ensure a smooth transition of power, bowing to the wishes of the people," presidential press secretary Vijayananda Herath told AFP, adding he had already vacated his main official residence in a symbolic gesture of defeat.

There was no immediate comment from Sirisena, who was expected to travel to Colombo after spending the night at his home in Polonnaruwa, east of the capital.

A spokesman for the opposition said the former health minister, who united a fractured opposition to pull off an unlikely victory, would be sworn in later Friday.

"The swearing in will be at 6:00 pm (1230 GMT) today at Independence Square," said Saman Athaudahetti.

Official sources said Sirisena had an unassailable lead in results announced so far.

With nearly a third of results officially declared, Sirisena has 52.49 percent of the vote and Rajapakse 46.21 percent.

Sirisena was a relative unknown until he became the main opposition candidate, but his decision to run triggered a slew of defections and became a rallying point for disaffection with Rajapakse and his powerful family.

Rajapakse won a landslide election victory in 2010, but critics say he has failed to bring about reconciliation in the years that followed his crushing victory over the Tamil Tiger separatist group in 2009.

Herath said Rajapakse had conceded defeat during a meeting with Ranil Wickremesinghe, who leads the opposition in parliament and who Sirisena has said would be appointed as his prime minister.

Opposition lawmaker Harsha de Silva said transitional arrangements were being discussed with Rajapakse, and that Wickremesinghe had "guaranteed him and his family security".

Meanwhile:  Sri Lanka's Tamils on Friday celebrated their key role in ousting Mahinda Rajapakse, whose 11th-hour charm offensive and exhortation to vote for "the known devil" was too little, too late.

Rajapakse was strongly resented among Tamils in Sri Lanka after ordering a brutal military suppression of a separatist insurgency in which thousands of civilians are said to have died.

With the majority Sinhalese vote split between the president and his successful challenger Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka's largest minority group emerged as kingmakers in the polls.

"We were the deciding factor at this election," said school teacher Kanchana Keethiswaran in the northern Jaffna peninsula, scene of the worst of the violence in the decades-long conflict.

"We hope the new president does not forget that he won only because of our (Tamil) votes."

Rajapakse had travelled to Jaffna last week for a campaign rally, as the extent of support for the opposition among majority Sinhalese became clear.

During a campaign rally he told residents that Sirisena was a stranger to the region, while he had travelled there at least 11 times after first becoming president in 2005.