Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that if elected he will not allow any ethnic discrimination.
Rajapaksa was defeated in the January presidential election amid a swell of opposition by ethnic Tamil and Muslim voters, owing to his majority Sinhala Buddhist nationalistic posture.
Rajapaksa was accused of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians while leading the military campaign against separatist Tamil rebels and of secretly supporting nationalist groups that carried out anti-Muslim attacks.