As Sri Lanka's presidential election approaches, what appears to be a tough campaign race has kicked off.

For decades, the country was embroiled in an on-and-off civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group fighting for an independent state for the country's ethnic minority Tamils.

But last year Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent president, claimed victory over the Tamil Tigers following the deaths of its senior leaders in a major military offensive.

Now the army general who led those troops is challenging Rajapaksa.

Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Kalutara on how the people of Sri Lanka are split in a tight presidential campaign race.