Introduction Several politicians and Buddhist religious leaders questioned the need for Muslims to have ‘different laws’ in Sri Lanka, in reference to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act. The Cabinet hastily passed a draft bill and its contents were not made public till much later. The Act has been criticised for not being adequate in protecting Muslim women in marriage. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidacy for president in the aftermath of the Easter attacks was fraught with fear for Muslims. His continued patronage of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), an extremist group that has spread violent speech and coordinated violence against their community, was a cause for concern. Stoking fears against the Muslim community constituted a large part of the Rajapaksa campaign, either through social media posts or politicians and MPs who supported him. When results were announced, electoral maps indicated that support for Rajapaksa was lowest in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Sinhala citizens and commentators on social media used this voting pattern to claim that Tamils and Muslims in these areas still wished for ‘Eelam’, referring to the LTTE. The assertion that Rajapaksa won ‘without the support of the minorities’ has been used to reinforce the status of Sinhala-Buddhists in Sri Lanka. For the first time in Sri Lankan history, a presidential candidate spoken on behalf of the LGBTIQ+ community and promised them equal rights before the law. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, candidate for the National People’s Power Movement, declared that if he was elected, sections of the law that discriminate against the community would be repealed, and discrimination faced by them would be addressed. The silence of Rajapaksa on this community’s needs, indicates it is unlikely there will be an improvement in their status over the next five years. Conclusion and Recommendations Even discounting the case of the Rohingya where the countries they have sought refuge in have almost all made them feel quite unwelcome, barring a few anomalies, the vast majority of refugees in South Asia have been denied the right to a dignified life in the host countries. Besides their uncertain status, there are few opportunities available to refugees and asylum-seekers li