Sri Lanka presidential election: Rajapaksa claims victory as count continues
Former defence minister is narrowly ahead of rival Sajith Premadasa with a voter turnout of 80%
Sri Lanka’s former wartime defence minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared himself the winner of a tightly fought presidential election, after early results indicated he was ahead.
The election took place seven months after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, which saw self-radicalised Islamist extremists bomb hotels and churches, killing over 250 people and throwing Sri Lanka into a state of emergency.