Sri Lanka's new 'Terminator' president polarizes nation

Gotabaya Rajapaksa win heralds shift toward strongman rule and closer China ties

20191118 swearing in

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's new president, addresses the nation, at his swearing-in ceremony in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, on Monday. © Reuters

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent

COLOMBO -- Gotabaya Rajapaksa's siblings call him the "Terminator," and the 70-year-old cultivated that macho image to win Sri Lanka's presidential election on Saturday.

Rajapaksa took 52.2% of the ballots cast to become the island's seventh president -- the result putting his family, Sri Lanka's most influential political clan, back in power after a hiatus of nearly five years.

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