Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who oversaw the final phase of the Sri Lankan military offensive in 2009 that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, said that he was looking into whether he could run again for a third term this week.
Mr Rajapaksa served two consecutive terms as president from 2005 to 2015, and is reportedly looking at whether he can contest legislation that bars him from running.
“There is an opinion that I can contest again, we need to find out if I am eligible,” he was quoted by Colombo press as saying on Saturday.
Legislation was passed three months after Mr Rajapaksa was unseated in January 2015 under the 19th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution, which states “No person who has been twice elected to the office of President by the People, shall be qualified thereafter to be elected to such office by the People”.
However, Sri Lanka’s former Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, and other supporters of Mr Rajapaksa have reportedly sought to seek the Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s opinion on whether the legislature can be applied retrospectively.
Mr Rajapaksa remains hugely popular amongst Sinhalese voters, with his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party sweeping local polls in the south of the island earlier this year. His party has, amongst other pledges, vowed to repeal the Office on Missing Persons, if re-elected.
