Two days short of his 79th birthday, two-times former president and two-times former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa vowed on Saturday “not to quit politics” just as yet. This was Mahindas first reaction since his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was trounced with just 3 per cent of the vote in Wednesday’s parliamentary election swamped by the ruling National Peoples Power (NPP) winning absolute control of the House.

The JVP-NPP combine sweeps the Rajapaksa stronghold in the south, and the Tamil hardline areas in the north and reduces the traditional parties to a mere single-digit number in the parliament