TO CRITICS of Mahinda Rajapaksa, local-council elections that were held in Sri Lanka on February 10th felt like a horror film, as the controversial ex-president rose from his silk-lined political coffin to declare victory. And what a victory it was for Mr Rajapaksa, a brash populist whose exit in 2015 after ten bloodstained and corruption-tainted years in power was widely heralded as a bright new dawn for the civil-war-battered island republic. His party won no fewer than 239 out of 340 contests. Some commentators have described it as the biggest electoral upset in Sri Lankan history. Mr Rajapaksa swiftly declared that the current national government had lost its legitimacy and should resign.
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