{"word_count": 97, "character_count": 647}
Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed to win an outright majority in parliamentary elections due on 17 August.Mr Rajapaksa told BBC Sinhala he was confident of winning more than half the seats in parliament.He is hoping to become prime minister, but the result is far from clear-cut.A Rajapaksa win would mean an uneasy cohabitation with party rival Maithripala Sirisena, who beat him in presidential elections in January.Their Sri Lanka Freedom Party remains divided over the two men - the president failed to stop his predecessor from standing as a party candidate in the polls.see: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33803673