Sri Lanka, 2015 — auto-coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event on 9 January 2015 coded as an auto coup episode in Sri Lanka surrounding the shock electoral defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, amid allegations that he attempted to cling to power by force after losing at the ballot box. Rajapaksa, who had dominated Sri Lankan politics since 2005 and won the war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency in 2009, had called an early presidential election expecting an easy victory, only to be defeated by his former ally Maithripala Sirisena, who united a fractured opposition. As the results came in overnight showing his loss, Rajapaksa reportedly sought to reverse the outcome by unconstitutional means, allegedly pressing the military and police chiefs to deploy troops, annul the count, and keep him in office.
But the security and elections officials refused to go along; the army commander and the attorney general declined to back any such move, and Rajapaksa, his options gone, conceded defeat and left office peacefully in the early hours of 9 January. Sirisena was sworn in. The alleged plot, denied by Rajapaksa, collapsed for want of institutional support, and Sri Lanka's democracy weathered the transfer of power.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
78001092015
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Mahinda Rajapaksa's alleged January 2015 bid to stay in power after election defeat failed and he conceded.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wikipedia
Associated Press
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →