The electoral contest sees Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 70, running for the top job almost five years after his brother, political heavyweight Mahinda Rajapaksa, lost power. The incident in northwest Sri Lanka saw the attackers pelt buses with stones, burn tyres on the road and set up roadblocks later cleared by police. For the same reason, the brothers are detested and feared by many in the Tamil minority, who make up 15% of the population. Beijing loaned and granted Sri Lanka billions of dollars for infrastructure projects under China's immense Belt and Road Initiative spanning Asia and beyond. Sri Lanka was forced in 2017 to hand Beijing a 99-year lease on the port of Hambantota after being unable to service a $1.4-billion Chinese loan, highlighting for critics the debt dangers of Beijing's scheme.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 16, 2019 02:54 UTC