拉贾帕克萨败选预示斯里兰卡迈入新时代

As former president Mahinda Rajapaksa comes toterms with his second electoral defeat in eightmonths, many in Sri Lanka are also predicting whatonce seemed unthinkable: the final political demise of a leader who, until just a year ago,seemed to hold an iron grip on their country.

斯里兰卡前总统马欣达拉贾帕克萨(Mahinda Rajapaksa)不得不接受8个月内第二次在选举中落败的事实。与此同时，在许多斯里兰卡人的预期中，出现了一度似乎不可想象的一幕：一位在短短一年前似乎还严密掌控着国家权柄的领导人，就要走上政治末路。

Mr Rajapaksa hoped Tuesday’s result would herald an unlikely comeback — allowing him toseize the office of prime minister while simultaneously avenging his downfall at the hands offormer party ally Maithripala Sirisena in presidential elections in January.

拉贾帕克萨曾希望，周二公布的选举结果能让他可能性不大的东山再起梦想成真，让他能在夺取总理宝座的同时，报今年1月在总统选举中被前党内盟友迈特里帕拉缠里塞纳(Maithripala Sirisena)赶下台的一箭之仇。

Instead, his Sri Lanka Freedom party trailed in second behind the centre-right United Nationalparty. The result leaves the UNP's Ranil Wickremesinghe set to return as prime minister, havingclaimed victory on Tuesday, and form a new coalition government in the island’s 225-memberparliament. Analysts say Mr Rajapaksa’s departure — after a 10-year rule — could herald a newera, one in which Sri Lanka faces up to brutality of its past and distances itself from its oncecosy relationship with Beijing.

然而事与愿违，他领导的斯里兰卡自由党(Freedom party)在此次选举中落在中右翼统一国民党(UnitedNational party)之后，屈居第二。这一结果令统一国民党的拉尼尔维克勒马辛哈(Ranil Wickremesinghe)得以回归总理宝座，并在斯里兰卡225人组成的议会中构建新的联合政府。维克勒马辛哈已在周二宣布胜选。分析人士表示，拉贾帕克萨在统治斯里兰卡十年后离开政治舞台，或预示着斯里兰卡迈入新时代。在这个新时代里，斯里兰卡将直面过去的残暴行径，并淡化与中国一度十分亲密的关系。

As in January's contest, Mr Rajapaksa’s appeals to the Sinhalese-speaking Buddhist majorityfailed to rack up enough votes to overcome more liberal-minded urban voters, alongsidethose backing Tamil parties, which won overwhelmingly in the island’s north.

和今年1月的选举一样，拉贾帕克萨对占人口多数的讲僧伽罗语的佛教徒的拉拢，未能为他带来足够的选票，以击败思想倾向自由主义的城市选民以及那些支持泰米尔党派的选民。在斯里兰卡北部，泰米尔党派取得了压倒性胜利。

At a deeper level, however, analysts said the result represented a rejection of the muscularnationalism embodied by Mr Rajapaksa's rule, borne of his role as victor in the island's civil war,which ended in a crushing defeat for the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

不过，分析人士表示，这一选举结果从更深层次来说，意味着对拉贾帕克萨统治所体现的强硬民族主义的拒绝。拉贾帕克萨是以斯里兰卡内战胜利者身份确立这种统治的。2009年，这场内战以泰米尔猛虎组织(TamilTiger)叛军的全面失败告终。

“The hope must now be that a double defeat means Sri Lanka can move on, and begin tosolve some of the issues of post-war reconciliation and devolution of power that have beenso difficult, says Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group.

国际危机组织(International Crisis Group)的艾伦蘒块(Alan Keenan)表示：“目前的全部希望在于，(拉贾帕克萨的)二次落败意味着斯里兰卡能够走出过去的阴影，着手解决部分战后和解与权力下放问题。这些问题一直难以得到解决。

Making good on promises of better governance will be one early challenge, and one of directinterest to Mr Rajapaksa himself, as he braces for an array of corruption investigations.Opponents claim the Rajapaksa’s family-dominated regime siphoned away huge sums duringits decade in power, including from the many Chinese-backed infrastructure schemes thatsymbolised Sri Lanka’s post-war economic boom.

兑现改善治理的承诺，将是这一时代面临的早期挑战之一，也关系到拉贾帕克萨的切身利益。拉贾帕克萨即将接受一系列反腐调查。反对者称，在拉贾帕克萨掌权的十年期间，由他家族把持的政权黑掉了不少钱，包括从中国投资的基建计划中黑走的钱。这些计划曾是斯里兰卡战后经济繁荣的象征。

Instead, Mr Wickremesinghe talks of a market-friendly economic policy, placing less emphasison financial ties with China, and more on tempting global companies to use the south Asianisland as a base for export-led manufacturing. He is likely to keep rebalancing Sri Lanka’sinternational relations too, patching up ties with India and the west after a decade in which MrRajapaksa cosied up to Beijing.

而维克勒马辛哈谈论的是亲市场的经济政策，对斯中金融合作强调得要少一些，更侧重于吸引全球企业将这个南亚岛国用作出口导向型制造业的基地。他可能还会继续努力再平衡斯里兰卡的国际关系，在拉贾帕克萨奉行亲中国政策十年之后，修补斯里兰卡与印度及西方的关系。