2015 Sri Lankan presidential election
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Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule.[1][2] Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate, seeking a third term in office.[3][4] The United National Party-led opposition coalition chose to field Maithripala Sirisena, former Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – the main constituent party of the UPFA – as its common candidate.[5][6]
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Turnout | 81.52% (7.02pp) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Results by polling division | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Sirisena was declared the winner, receiving 51.28% of all votes cast compared to Rajapaksa's 47.58%.[7][8] The result was generally seen as a major upset;[9][10][11] when Rajapaksa called the election in November 2014 he had looked certain to win.[12][13][14] On 11 January 2015, the new government announced a special investigation into allegations of an attempted coup by Rajapaksa.[15]