Gotabaya Rajapaksa has now been confirmed as the winner in the presidential race with 52.25% of the vote on a 83.7% turnout.

He commands passionate support amongst a large part of the Buddhist Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, and together with his brother Mahinda who was president at the time, is credited with bringing an end to the country\’s long civil war. This is a delicate subject though, dogged with claims of ruthlessness and human rights abuses that are denied but refuse to go away. Now, his supporters want him to restore stability following Easter Sunday\’s attrocities by Islamist militants.

His main rival, Sajith Premadasa, stood on a more inclusive vision for the country and is strongly supported by the Tamil and Muslim minorities here.

We therefore have to hope that despite completely different approaches, restoring stability is seen with the same openness on both sides of the political divide.  This is at heart a lovely country .

Steve