It’s spring time for strongmen in South Asia. With this month’s election of Sinhalese hard-liner Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president, Sri Lanka, Asia’s oldest democracy, has become the latest country in the region to tilt toward illiberal rule. Mr. Rajapaksa swiftly appointed a prime minister: his older brother Mahinda, who served as president from 2005-15. In Sri Lanka, both the president and the prime minister wield executive power. The Rajapaksa brothers’ return about five years after voters unexpectedly turfed them marks...

Source: Wall Street Journal November 28, 2019 18:56 UTC