Sri Lanka held presidential elections Thursday between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his opponent, Maithripala Sirisena.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the president is seeking a third term up against a former lieutenant who vows to steer the country away from its drift towards authoritarianism and family rule.

Reports say President Rajapaksa has steered the country closer to China in recent years. The republic has lent the Sri Lankan government billions of dollars for highways and other projects and is seeking to strengthen its naval presence in Sri Lanka.

Yet, Sirisena says the president has concentrated too much power in his own hands. His goal is to amend the constitution in about three months to adopt a better balance of power, adding a prime minister to head the form of government.

Meanwhile, the president continues to have strong support amongst the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population for ending the country's civil war in 2009.

"We believe in the president. He's done everything he promised to do," Priyatha Amerasingha, a 34-year-old businessman, said. "Now we can live without fear. We can enjoy our rights."

The president led his campaign with the slogan "A secure nation, a prosperous future," and promises to end terrorism. While he gets most of his support from rural areas, there are other people going against the current president.

"People are dissatisfied," a 36-year-old man, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, told WSJ.

The man added that "it's clear there's a lot of corruption and mismanagement" in government projects, with the result that their "benefits aren't being felt by the poor."

Voting has been strong in the Tamil-dominated areas Thursday, Yahoo! reported. Many Tamils are expected to vote for Sirisena to heal wounds they say were created when the current president abandoned them at the end of the civil war.

Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive to Sri Lanka by Tuesday.

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