Ex Sri Lankan president vows to continue in politics

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse who was defeated in a parliamentary election on Monday said he would not retire from politics and would enter parliament as a Member of Parliament (MP) to serve the nation.

Rajapakse who contested the polls from the North Western Province of Kurunegala suffered his second failure this year after his United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) lost the parliamentary election to the ruling United National Front (UNF) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Earlier in January, Rajapakse was ousted out of power by his whilom aide and Health Minister Maithripala Srisena in a presidential poll which ended his 10 years in power. He was eyeing to return back to politics by becoming the nation's new prime minister by contesting Monday's polls which elected a new parliament.

"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," Rajapakse said in a statement on Wednesday.

"I will continue to engage in politics in keeping with the people's demand and I will function within parliament to safeguard the nation and the democratic system," he added.

Rajapakse received more than 400,000 votes from his Kurunegala district but his party, the UPFA failed in gaining a majority.

They obtained 95 seats as opposed to the 106 seats won by the UNF in the election. Endi