Rajapaksa ousted after election in Sri Lanka

Mithripala Sirisena has been sworn in as the new President of Sri Lanka, after an election ousted leader Mahinda Rajapakse after a decade in power.

Hours after Rajapakse conceded defeat, Sirisena and his new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both took the oath of office in Colombo’s Independence Square.

The election was a result of claims of corruption and totalitarianism from Rajapakse. After his re-election in 2010, Rajapakse rewrote the constitution to remove the two-term limit in presidency, and give himself more power over public servants and judges.

Immediately after taking oath, on Friday, Sirisena said that his government would work hard to mend Sri Lanka’s ties with the international community. The country had fallen out with the West over allegations of wartime right abuses.

We will have a foreign policy that will mend our ties with the international community and all international organisations in order that we derive maximum benefit for our people," he said

Rajapakse had been expected to win the election, until Sirisena, a member of his own party defected and ran against him.