An influential party of Buddhist monks warned Tuesday of violence during Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election, two weeks after it defected from the coalition government.

The JHU, or National Heritage Party, said it feared President Mahinda Rajapakse's regime would resort to violence as it tried to cling to power.

Sri Lanka's opposition parties formally launched their bid Sunday to topple long-serving President Mahinda Rajapakse at January elections, with prayers and public meetings in the island's old capital of Polonnaruwa.

Main opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, 63, who quit as health minister last week from Rajapakse's government, was expected to address a rally later Sunday in Polonnaruwa, in the heart of the country's "rice bowl".

Sri Lanka's main opposition presidential candidate expressed hope Wednesday of forming a unity government and ushering in constitutional reforms if he defeats the incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse in January's election.

Maithripala Sirisena, who was sacked as health minister after defecting from Rajapakse's party last week, said he would welcome former cabinet colleagues into a coalition if he triumphs in the January 8 contest.

Sri Lanka's elections chief and pro-democracy activists on Tuesday urged police to stem a spate of campaign-related violence that has flared since President Mahinda Rajapakse declared his re-election bid.

Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya said he had asked police to bring to justice those responsible for two shooting incidents since Friday, involving government supporters and backers of the main opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

A senior minister quit Sri Lanka's ruling party Friday to stand as the main opposition's candidate in January elections, accusing President Mahinda Rajapakse of being a corrupt dictator.

As organizers confirmed the election would be on January 8, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said he was confident of toppling his boss in an announcement that earned him the sack from his other post as general secretary of the president's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Veteran Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse confirmed Thursday he will seek an unprecedented third term in office, with snap elections expected early next year.

Rajapakse, who remains popular with many voters after overseeing the end of the war against Tamil separatists, will seek to extend his rule until 2021 in a contest that is likely to precede a papal visit in January.

Sri Lanka's president has accused a top Norwegian envoy of covertly financing the island's separatist Tamil Tigers during peace talks ahead of a military campaign that crushed the rebels in 2009.

President Mahinda Rajapakse told a public rally on Saturday that he wanted Oslo to probe the role of Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian international development minister and a peace envoy to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's main party of Buddhist monks warned President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday it would withdraw support if he refused to loosen his grip on power before a snap election.

The JHU, or National Heritage Party, said it wanted Rajapakse to honor a promise to rewrite the constitution and allow civil servants, judges, police and the elections chief to function independently.

Sri Lanka on Saturday angrily rejected accusations by the U.N. rights chief that it was sabotaging a war crimes probe into the country's brutal separatist war, calling the charges "extremely regrettable."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday accused Colombo of creating "a wall of fear" and repression to scuttle the U.N.-mandated probe by subjecting civil society groups and rights activists to surveillance, harassment and other forms of intimidation.

Sri Lanka's president has asked the top court to rule on whether he can seek a third term after the opposition insisted his snap re-election bid was illegal, officials said Wednesday.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has sought an urgent Supreme Court ruling on his decision to contest a third term in early elections expected in January 2015, a court document seen by AFP shows.