In brief: Sri Lankan president loses to former aide

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has conceded defeat in his bid for a third term in office, his spokesman said today.

Rajapaska has bowed to the people’s decision and left Temple Trees, his official residence, said Wijeyanda Herath, his media secretary.

In a result unthinkable just weeks ago, Rajapaksa lost to his former friend and health minister, Maithripala Sirisena, who defected from the ruling party and turned the election into a referendum on the president and the enormous power he wields over the island nation of 21 million.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said the election was peaceful, although some voters were prevented from casting ballots in the Tamil-dominated north, according to the Center for Monitoring Election Violence.

Until just a few weeks ago, Rajapaksa was widely expected to easily win his third term in office. But that changed suddenly in November when Sirisena split from him, and gathered the support of other defecting lawmakers and many of the country’s ethnic minorities, making the election a fierce political battle.

The wider world was watching the election in case violence should erupt after the results were announced, especially since Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in the country Tuesday.

While Rajapaksa’s campaign centered around his victory over the Tamils and his work rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and economy, Sirisena’s focused on reining in the president’s expanding powers. He also accused Rajapaksa of corruption, a charge the president denies.

Vermont Legislature re-elects governor

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin was sworn in to a third two-year term after his failure to win a majority of the popular vote in November forced state lawmakers to decide the winner Thursday.

Shumlin defeated Republican Scott Milne by a vote of 110-69 in a joint session of the Vermont Legislature, an outcome that was expected given the strong majorities in the House and the Senate held by Democrats.

But Milne had refused to concede after a narrow loss in the midterm elections, and one organization had been airing a television ad asking voters to urge their lawmakers to support him.

In most circumstances, the second-place finisher concedes to the top vote-getter, and the Legislature’s vote is a formality. That’s what happened in 2003 and 2011.

But this time, Milne didn’t concede and instead sharply criticized Shumlin throughout the prolonged election process.