page_title: Mahinda Rajapaksa
section_title: Second Term
hierarchical_section_title: Mahinda Rajapaksa / Presidency / Second Term
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing winners of polling divisions in the Sri Lankan presidential election of 2010.
context_page_description: Rajapaksha Percy Mahendhra commonly known as Mahinda Rajapaksa is the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and Minister of Finance since 2019. He was previously the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019. He was also a Member of Parliament for Kurunegala since 2015.
  A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and was the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2005. He served as the President of Sri Lanka and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party from 2005 to 2015. He was elected in the 2005 presidential election and was sworn in for his first six-year term as president on 19 November 2005. He was re-elected in 2010 for a second term. He was defeated in his bid for a third term in the 2015 presidential election by Maithripala Sirisena and left office on 9 January 2015. Several months after leaving office, Rajapaksa unsuccessfully sought to become Prime Minister in the 2015 parliamentary election, where the United People's Freedom Alliance was defeated. He was, however, elected as Member of Parliament for the Kurunegala District.
context_section_description: Following the end of the conflict, a rift emerged between Rajapaksa and Fonseka, over reasons which are still disputed. On 15 November 2009, Rajapaksa ordered Fonseka to leave his post as Chief of the Defence Staff with immediate effect through a letter from his secretary. Fonseka then joined opposition as the candidate against Rajapaksa in the 2010 Presidential election, at which Rajapaksa emerged victory. Fonseka was subsequently sentenced to two years in jail for various offenses by a military court martial. President Rajapaksa signed the order documents for the release of Fonseka in May 2012.
caption: Sri Lankan Presidential Election 2010 – Winners of Districts
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