Political developments in Sri Lanka in 2009 centered primarily around the end of the protracted civil war between the state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), with the total military defeat of the LTTE. Sri Lanka subsequently entered an uncertain phase of post-civil war political reconstruction. The announcement to hold early presidential elections in January 2010 added to uncertainties to Sri Lanka's post-civil war political process. Sri Lanka also moved away from the West toward other Asian and Middle Eastern powers.

The ethnocentric policies successive Sri Lankan governments pursued against the minority Tamils pushed them to try to secede, but the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) immanent contradictions——the quest for state-building and independence juxtaposed with fascistic rule and terrorist practices——undermined the separatist movement and irreparably weakened the Tamil community. The Sri Lankan government's extraconstitutional counterterrorism strategies under Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa helped defeat the LTTE, but the attendant militarism, culture of impunity especially among the defense forces, and political machinations bode further ill for the island's democratic and polyethnic future.

The year 2007 saw a successful military campaign that led to the ““liberation”” of the Eastern Province by government security forces. The country's high economic growth rate continued despite the war, but inflation and the cost of living also rose significantly. The regime's human rights record came under serious scrutiny.