Sri Lankan opposition chooses former Gotabaya defense minister as presidential candidate



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Sri Lanka's main opposition on Sunday chose former Defense Minister Gotabaya Rajapakse to try to exploit the public's demands for a strong leader after the deadly Easter bombings in the country. country.

Gotabaya, 70, served as Defense Minister during the presidency of his elder brother Mahinda Rajapakse and is widely considered the leading candidate in the presidential election by 9 December.

Gotabaya is extremely popular among the Sinhalese Buddhist majority who is credited with ending the 26-year civil war in the country and thinks Colombo needs a seasoned man after the Islamist attacks of 21 April.

Critics claim that Gotabaya crushed the dissident Tamil Tigers without respect for human rights and that he released kidnappings and extrajudicial executions blessed. Gotabaya rejects all the accusations.

Thousands of people gathered in a closed stadium in the heart of the capital, Colombo, to attend the Bodogana Piramona party's special conference in Sri Lanka, and slogans of "victory for you" were shouted throughout the place when Gotabaya was announced as candidate for the presidency of the opposition party Sri Lanka Bodogana Piramuna.

"I will accept responsibility for your own safety and that of your children and loved ones," Gotabaya said, chanting the words of supporters waving posters with his smiling image.

Sri Lanka is still suffering from the Easter bombings, during which militants blew themselves up in luxury hotels and churches, killing more than 250 people and dispelling the relative calm that prevailed on the island over the years. a decade after the end of the civil war. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

This article "The opposition in Sri Lanka selects the former Defense Minister Gotabaya as presidential candidate" is an adaptation of the site (Gate Dawn) and does not reflect in any way the policy of the site or point of view, but the responsibility for the news or its accuracy rests on the source of the original news, the Dawn Gate.

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