Rajapakse, second from left, flanked by bodyguards during an election rally
Over the past 18 months Mahinda Rajapakse, 59, has risen from opposition leader to Prime Minister and is now vying to become Sri Lanka's next President. Personable and gregarious, Rajapakse has allied himself and his party with hard-line Sinhalese nationalists for the Nov. 17 vote and shocked many, including the leader of his own party, outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga, by vowing to end the current four-year-old ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E). He spoke to TIME's Alex Perry on board his official helicopter as he flew to an election rally in Bulathsinghala in the southern heartland from...
