Sri Lanka's 'Pad Man' faces 'Terminator' in elections

Sri Lanka's presidential election on Saturday is turning out to be a showdown between a man offering free sanitary pads and a former soldier dubbed the "Terminator" by his own family. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, 70, a retired army lieutenant colonel, was the de facto military chief who crushed Tamil guerrillas and ended a 37-year separatist war, but Saturday's vote is his battle of ballots.

His family calls him Sri Lanka's "Terminator" because he promises to fight corruption and Islamic extremism, a key issue since the Easter Sunday suicide bombings this year that killed 269 people. In contrast to the tough-talking Rajapaksa, his main challenger, Sajith Premadasa, a low-key politician, is hoping to appeal to women voters with promises to improve menstrual hygiene.

Menstruation remains a taboo subject in the conservative Buddhist society and "period poverty" is a global issue. Premadasa, 52, was ridiculed by the Rajapaksa campaign for openly discussing the subject and ridiculed him as the "Pad Man". "I remain committed to women's rights," Premadasa shot back on Twitter.

"I will wear the #padman label proudly. In my view, it is certainly preferable to being the #manwiththevan." Premadasa was referring to accusations that Gotabhaya led death squads during his brother Mahinda's decade in power up to 2015. He denies that he was the architect of what is known as "white van abductions", when dozens of opponents were abducted never to be found again.

While Rajapaksa has no experience in politics, he makes up for it by campaigning with his charismatic older brother Mahinda.

---AP, Sri Lanka