Vanquished Rajapaksa vows not to retire from Lankan politics

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today declared that he will not retire from politics and will serve the nation as an MP, a day after his party lost the parliamentary elections, shattering his hopes of staging a political comeback as the new Prime Minister.
Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) came second, securing 95 seats in Monday's parliamentary elections, won by incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Front (UNF) with 106 seats.
The 69-year-old two-time president, elected from Kurunegala province to the 225-member National Assembly, said, "I accept with humility, the result of the parliamentary election that just concluded and I thank the voters who placed their confidence in our party despite the unprecedented obstacles that we had to face.

"I also wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the activists and the people's representatives of our party who worked indefatigably in the election campaign. I will continue to engage in politics in keeping with the people's mandate and function within Parliament to safeguard the nation and the democratic system," Rajapaksa said.
In the January 8 presidential poll, Rajapaksa was routed by his former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena. He was eying to stage a political comeback by becoming the new Prime Minister by contesting in Monday's polls.
Rajapaksa secured over 400,000 votes from Kurunegala district, according to media reports.