Sri Lanka election: president Mahinda Rajapaksa concedes defeat - live

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This article titled “Sri Lanka election: president Mahinda Rajapaksa concedes defeat – live” was written by Ben Doherty, for theguardian.com on Friday 9th January 2015 02.07 UTC

1.07pm AEST

The moment which Sri Lanka’s President @PresRajapaksa concedes election defeat & leave from his residential #lka pic.twitter.com/BzKdalTFaQ

— Sandun Arosha F’do (@sandunarosha) January 9, 2015

1.04pm AEST

Mahinda Rajapaksa has conceded defeat

In a stunning result in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reportedly conceded defeat to rival Maithripala Sirisena, a man who was once one of the President’s closest allies before defecting.

The Guardian reports:

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has conceded a shock defeat in the country’s presidential election.

Official sources said results announced so far had given opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena an unassailable lead.

Presidential press secretary Vijayananda Herath said that Rajapakse had conceded defeat to Ranil Wickremesinghe, who leads the opposition in parliament.

“The president met with former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this morning. The president concedes defeat and will ensure a smooth transition of power bowing to the wishes of the people,” Herath told AFP.

There was no immediate comment from Sirisena who was still at his private home in Polonnaruwa, 215 kilometres (134 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

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Sri Lanka election: president Mahinda Rajapaksa concedes defeat - live