Rajapaksa brushes off Sri Lankan election dispute

Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has won a second term in office. The country's former army chief, and leading opposite candidate, has vowed to challenge the results.

Rajapaksa's main political rival Sarath Fonseka cried foul after Tuesday's election.

The former army chief said the government had manipulated the results. He claimed on Thursday that authorities are preventing him from leaving the country.

Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lankan opposite candidate, said, "They have given my passport number to the airport and they have said they have a list called a blacklist, they put my number, passport number, and my name and said it is in the blacklist. Then I can't use that passport, neither can I go through the airport to leave the airport to go out of the country."

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa points during a meeting with the international media in Colombo January 27, 2010. REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds