On Friday, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat to his challenger, Mithripala Sirisena, after results from Thursday's presidential election showed Sirisena with 51.3 percent of the vote to Rajapaksa's 46.9 percent.
Rajapaksa ruled for a decade, and was running for a third term, Reuters reports. He called the election two years early, with Sirisena, a former government minister who switched parties, becoming the opposition candidate in November. Critics said that Rajapaksa was becoming more authoritarian and appointed several relatives to high positions in the government.
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