By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Presidential Stakes 2010 came to an official end when Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced the winner in Sri Lanka's sixth Presidential election.

Incumbent Executive President Mahinda Rajapakse registered a stunning victory by polling 6,015,934 votes(57.88%).Former Army commander retired General Sarath Fonseka, his chief challenger got 4,173,185 or 40.15% of the votes.

The other twenty candidates including three who had withdrawn unofficially fared badly. None of them polled a six digit figure and all of them lost their deposits.

While President Rajapakse's winning margin of 1. 842,749 (17.73 %) is indeed impressive the remarkable result has been tarnished somewhat due to charges of intimidatory violence, flagrant abuse and misuse of Government machinery particularly the state-owned media and alleged vote rigging. [click here to read in full~dbsjeyaraj.com]