Maithripala Sirisena sworn in after surprise victory in Sri Lanka

Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president in front of cheering crowds on Friday evening after his surprise win.

Mr Sirisena dramatically quit his post as a senior minister in the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa last November, defecting to lead a coalition of opposition parties and demonstrating a ruthless streak that he may need to employ if he is unite the country in the coming months.

At the time, few gave the veteran 63-year-old political insider much hope of victory against his former friend and ally, a formidable populist who expected an easy win for a third term by touting his role in defeating Tamil Tiger rebels and ending Sri Lanka's bloody civil war in 2009.

But after a bad-tempered two-month election campaign, Mr Sirisena successfully ousted Mr Rajapaksa, taking 51 per cent of the vote and unexpectedly ending what had threatened to become a family-run dynasty in the small south Asian island nation of 21m.

Confounding worries that he might attempt to cling on to power, Mr Rajapaksa conceded quickly on Friday, making Sri Lanka the latest in a series of south Asian democracies to witness significant transfers of power in recent years - including the defeat in India of the ruling Nehru-Gandhi family dynasty by challenger Narendra Modi in May.

Mr Sirisena must now grapple with how to form a workable new government while repairing the global image of a country tarnished by his predecessor's unwillingness to investigate allegations of war crimes committed during more than two decades of bloody conflict.

"He faces a big task, but he is a skilled politician," says Jayantha Dhanapala, a former senior Sri Lankan diplomat. "His first major job is keeping a motley group of parties together, so they can achieve political reforms, ending the atmosphere of fear under the previous regime."

Sri Lanka has enjoyed robust postwar growth, but Mr Sirisena successfully appealed to voters by accusing his opponent of corruption and nepotism, lambasting a regime dominated by members of the Rajapaksa family.

To reverse what critics have described as Sri Lanka's flirtation with authoritarianism, Mr Sirisena now promises to scrap the country's powerful "executive" presidency, instead strengthening its parliament and restoring judicial independence.

Corruption investigations into major investment projects launched under the last government will be another priority. Many were funded by Chinese loans and were part of Mr Rajapaksa's policy to ally more closely with Beijing.

Yet such probes may prove controversial. Delays to planned infrastructure schemes could threaten growth and potentially damage the tropical island's tourism economy, according to Hiran Cooray, chairman of Colombo-based Jetwing Hotels. "Infrastructure development is very important for Sri Lankans first, and tourists of course, so we hope these things will continue," he says.

Any appearance of score settling against his ousted opponent is a further risk. "They will not want to seem vindictive," says Jehan Perera, head of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a campaign group. "But they will still need to investigate these deals, to show to supporters that they are acting."

Mr Sirisena must also sustain the disparate coalition that backed his campaign. Its members range from rightwing religious Buddhists to the island's Tamil minorities, many of whom view their new leader with suspicion because of his historic ties to the Rajapaksa regime.

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Some ordinary Sri Lankans hold similar doubts, following a bitterly fought election contest that was more a rejection of Mr Rajapaksa's style of government than a full endorsement of his challenger.

"I don't think he will be a good president. Three months ago, he was in [Rajapaksa's] government," says Nirosha Gunatuhilake, 27, standing in Colombo's main Independence square, where Mr Sirisena was sworn in on Friday evening.

Mr Sirisena will also be under pressure to repair relations with the west. One opportunity will come in March, when the new president must respond to a UN report on alleged wartime abuses. A conciliatory approach, alongside progress on promised domestic human rights investigations, would warm relations with the US in particular.

Yet here too, there are dilemmas. "If he [Sirisena] believes the old regime was too close to China, how is he going to bring it back to balance with India and the west without offending Beijing?" says N Sathiyamoorthy of the India-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank. "All this is easier said than done."

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