12/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU congratulates new president. On Friday 9 January, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini congratulated Maithripala Sirisena on his election as president of Sri Lanka. She also paid tribute to the Sri Lankan people and authorities “for the overall conduct of the election and the strong voter turnout”, describing this as auguring well for the democratic process. Sirisena beat the outgoing president, Mahinda Rajapaksa (who was running for a third term of office) with 51.3% of the vote on 8 January. The turnout rate was over 81.5%. Mogherini said that the EU looked forward to working with the new president and to further developing the EU's relations with Sri Lanka. She also stated that the EU would continue to support Sri Lanka in its development “as a prosperous and inclusive democracy for the benefit of all its citizens”. (CG)