Voters choose a new president this weekend on the Indian Ocean island. If they opt for the Rajapaksa family it augurs badly<\/p>\n
There are worse things than disappointment, as Sri Lankans may find out when they go to the polls on Saturday<\/a>. The 2015 presidential election was heralded as the start of a new era. Strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa was unseated when Maithripala Sirisena, a senior figure within his own party, joined forces with the opposition United National party. The opportunity was largely squandered. The full extent of dysfunction was exposed last year when Mr Sirisena ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and installed his old foe Mr Rajapaksa \u2013 only for parliament to rebel and the supreme court to reinstate<\/a> Mr Wickremesinghe. But the true cost became even clearer when Isis-inspired bombings killed 269 people this Easter, and catastrophic intelligence and police failures were subsequently revealed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fallout could see the Rajapaksa family return to power. Gotabaya \u201cGota\u201d Rajapaksa of the Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist SLPP, who served as defence minister under his brother, is one of two frontrunners. Mr Rajapaksa is subject to lawsuits relating to torture<\/a>, fraud and corruption. He wants Mahinda, unable to run again due to term limits, as his prime minister. The Rajapaksas oversaw the end to the decades-long civil war, but one UN report suggested as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians died<\/a> in its final months. Tamil politicians were murdered and thousands of Sri Lankans disappeared.<\/p>\n