South Asia News
Opposition leader in Sri Lanka survives party power struggle
Dec 19, 2011, 12:14 GMT
Colombo - The leader of the main opposition in Sri Lanka survived a power struggle over leadership, but angry supporters of his rival stormed the party headquarters and caused extensive damage on Monday, officials said.
United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe was reelected leader, but 2,000 supporters of rival Karu Jayasuriya stormed the office in Pitakotte, 10 kilometers south of the capital.
Some party members have been demanding a change as Wickremesinghe has failed to put up strong opposition to President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has been ruling the country since 2005.
The party has lost eight of nine national elections since 1994 under Wickremesinghe's leadership.
As premier, Wickremesinghe was architect of the Norwegian-backed peace process in 2002. That initiative failed, and Rajapaksa later unched a military campaign that defeated the Tamil rebels in 2009.
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