Friday, November 18 2005 13:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Marxist-backed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse today (Nov 18, 2005) won the closely-fought presidency with a narrow 50.33 per cent of the popular vote, official results showed.

Rajapakse, who turns 60 today, received 4.88 million votes, beating his nearest rival, right-wing Ranil Wickremesinghe, on 4.69 million votes, the final result released by the Elections' Commissioner indicated.

Elections Chief Dayananda Dissanayake said the result would be conveyed to all 13 candidates at a formal meeting here at 1300 hrs IST.

When the final result is officially declared, the outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga's second and final term comes to an end, but she can remain in office until Rajapakse assumes office within two weeks.

Violence, meanwhile, continued to plague the country's east, with unidentified attackers lobbing grenades into a mosque early today, killing four men at prayer and wounding at least 25 others, police said.

The grenade blasts ripped through the mosque at the town of Akkaraipattu in the district of Ampara, 350 kilometres east of the capital Colombo by road, while hundreds of devotees were praying, a police spokesman said.