Backgrounder: Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The following is the country profile of Sri Lanka, which will see a presidential election on Tuesday with the two main candidates being the incumbent Mahida Rajapaksa and former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka.

Full Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Capital: Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte

Largest city: Colombo

Official languages: Sinhala, Tamil

Ethnic groups: Sinhalese, 73.9 percent; Tamil, 12.6 percent; Moors, 7.4 percent; Indian Tamil,5.2 percent

Size: 65,610 sq km

Location: about 31 km off the southern coast of India

Population: 20.217 million (2008)

GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate

-- Total 92.168 billion U.S. dollars

-- Per capita 4,589 U.S. dollars

GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate

-- Total 39.604 billion U.S. dollars

-- Per capita 1,972 U.S. dollars

Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee

Time zone: UTC+5:30

Main products: tea, coffee, coconuts, rubber and cinnamon

History: After over 2000 years of rule by local kingdoms, Sri Lanka had been colonized by Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain since the 16th century. A nationalist political movement arose in the country in the early 20th century, resulting in the independence in 1948.

Independence Day: Feb. 4

Government and politics: Sri Lanka is a unitary state. The government is a mixture of the presidential system and the parliamentary system. The president, popularly elected for a six- year term, is the head of state, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and head of government. In the exercise of duties, the president is responsible to the parliament which has 225 members.