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1 1 (June 25, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdoyy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ogesoa t'esearch Servk~ nfrn.... as. vedbtsnc. 9 mppm qq\ p\w gn'w', ggmm I as 11LIANJILiN, Updated June 25, 2020 Sri Lanka Background and Historical Se'ting The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon until 1972, is a constitutional democracy in South Asia with relatively high levels of development. It is strategically located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of India's Deccan Peninsula. The island nation was settled by successive waves of migration from India beginning in the 5th-century BC. Indo-Aryans from northern India established Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms in the central part of the island. Tamil Hindus from southern India also settled in northeastern coastal areas and established a kingdom on the Jaffna Peninsula. Beginning in the 16' century, Sri Lanka was colonized in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Although Ceylon gained its independence from Britain peacefully in 1948, succeeding decades were marred by ethnic conflict between the country's Sinhalese majority, clustered in the densely populated South and West, and the largely Hindu Tamil minority living in the North and East. Following independence, the Tamils-who had attained educational and civil service positions under the British- increasingly faced discrimination from the Sinhalese- dominated government, which made Sinhala the sole official language and gave preferences to Sinhalese in university admissions and government jobs. The Sinhalese, who had deeply resented British favoritism toward the Tamils, saw themselves not only as the majority in Sri Lanka, but also as a minority in a larger regional context that includes over 60 million Tamils in southern India. Civil War and Subsequent Political Developments For 26 years, from 1983 to 2009, Tamil militant separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) sought to establish a separate state or internal self-rule in the Tamil-dominated areas of Sri Lanka. Political, social, and economic development was constrained by the ethnic conflict and war between the government and the LTTE, which cost an estimated 70,000-130,000 lives. After a violent end to the civil war in May 2009, when the military crushed LTTE forces and precipitated a humanitarian emergency in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north, attention turned to whether the government had the ability and intention to build a stable peace in Sri Lanka. Former President (2005-2015) and current Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa faced criticism for an allegedly insufficient response to reported war crimes by government forces, a nepotistic and ethnically biased government, increasing restrictions on media, and uneven economic development. In the January 2015 presidential election, Mahinda was defeated by Maithripala Sirisena. Parliamentary elections later in 2015 led to the formation of a unity government supportive of Sirisena's reform agenda, including efforts to reduce the authority of the executive presidency. Figure I. Sri Lanka In Brief Piriseats . goerin (02 coltbgntfrcueaerapo Area: Sfightf heg~ tho ...... ........... unsuccesMslto dismiss thenPrieinserRai Theam2019 Paraeidetia leto Sri Lanka new pesident, in, Noveme ~ 201.2otabaya Longuhes:lecio ihs 52.3 Tofn tota voteshil his% main RSinhales Buddhist majoriy. Most Tamisho arelarel Hidho histian, aswlla2ms0usisvte}o Gtabaya's oppont . 5 Forer cPime MDinse Ranild2Oes Wickemesimnhe5 2o2esPanonehsrsinto Goabayart selcthikbothrrurie mininutr 6% efkster. The Rajpakls~a' poltctal bsies, expected tos bed furthr sregthned intr2020 wih end thecSPPut proctedb oberesto namrt of seatsU ~ 4~ inparlaet The, Perfrliaen ection 2018ial caleletios losng to020 unsucessfeuly to dismis then-Primte inteRl Gooavirus Rjpaksd rthroffrmicrsiet.n current... Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as. Sri Lnka'snew pesidet inNovemer 209. Goabay won te elctio with52.3 of otalvotes.whie hi mai politcal ival Sajih Prmedaa ofthe.UP,.rceivd.42 Goabaa'sopnent Fome.Pie.inserRai Wickremesinghe......... ofte.N.nnuce.i.rsgnto following~ th elcin Thismoveopeed.te.wa.fo Gotaaya o seect is rothr asprimminst. The...... Rajapasas' oliticl bas is exectedto.be.urthe strenghenedin 200 whe the.SPP.isprojeted.b coronir ru,, pandemic * .....*.~

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