COLOMBO : Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, center, smiles as he speaks during a media briefing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. Former strongman Rajapaksa called for snap parliamentary elections after the party he fielded as a proxy swept local elections over the weekend in a major blow to the reformist government elected just three years ago. Rajapaksa said that the government had lost its mandate to govern and that the people must be given a chance to elect a new parliament. (AP/PTI)