Ahilan Kadirgamar, senior lecturer of the Jaffna University, and B. Skanthakumar, co-editor of the 'Polity Magazine', discuss what the historic mandate could reflect.

'Since my childhood, every election map has highlighted a divided country, with clear regional splits in the results. For the first time, I’m seeing a truly unified Sri Lanka across the map.'

For someone who has been in the business of journalism for four decades, the 11:13 am stop at Kilinochchi is the stuff of suppressed excitement and a rush of adrenaline.