2010-2012

2010 (Rajapaksa re-elected)

January - Incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa wins presidential election by a big margin but the outcome is rejected by his main rival Gen Sarath Fonseka.

February - Gen Fonseka is arrested on corruption charges, and jailed for 30 months by a military court in September. He is convicted of further charges in November 2011 and sentenced to another three years in jail. President Rajapaksa dissolves parliament, clearing way for elections in April. European Union suspends Sri Lanka's preferential trade status because of concerns over its human rights record.

April - President Rajapaksa's ruling coalition wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections.

September - Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms.

2011 (Human rights’ concerns)

April - UN says both sides in the Sri Lankan civil war committed atrocities against civilians and calls for an international investigation into possible war crimes. Sri Lanka says the report is biased.

July - Sri Lanka's largest ethnic Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance - wins two-thirds of local councils in the former war zone in the north and east.

August - President Rajapaksa says his government will allow the expiry of state emergency laws which have been in place for most of the past 40 years. However, critics say that the introduction of new legislation that allows the detention of people suspected of terror offences without charge continues the state of emergency in a new guise.

September - Parliament approves law allowing government to take over 37 businesses. Critics say they will be seized from opponents to reward supporters.

2012

January - 160 Islamic clerics expelled for violating visa regulations.

March - UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution urging Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of the decades-long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka says that the move usurps its sovereignty.

May - President Rajapaksa orders the release of former opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka from jail on the third anniversary of the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers. Gen Fonseka led the victorious campaign in 2009 as army chief .