In the area of foreign policy, the Rajapaksa government was seen to align itself towards the East, in accordance with SLFP tradition. This situation was augmented by the prevailing geopolitical environment which led some Western nations to criticize the UPFA government regarding accusations of human rights abuses during the civil war. During this time the government has been implicated of political kidnappings and accused of running a family dynasty of four brothers. The 2010-2015 period of SLFP led government was characterized by high economic growth and a reducing debt-to-GDP ratio. But the IMF has said Sri Lanka's national accounts "suffer from insufficient data sources and undeveloped statistical techniques" and Opposition legislators have accused Rajapaksa of giving overstated growth estimates. One of the top officials in the statistics office was sacked for disobedience and leaking internal information after he said that economic growth data compiled by the office was inflated  Eventually allegations of corruption and nepotism saw Mahinda Rajapaksa lose the presidency to SLFP defector Maithripala Sirisena in 2015, who ran against him with the support of the UNP and other smaller parties. The UNP consequently regained power despite the UPFA still holding a majority of seats in the legislature. Soon after President Sirisena's victory, Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over leadership of the party to Maithripala Sirisena as per the SLFP constitution which states any SLFP member who is President is automatically leader of the party. Very soon afterwards, the party split into two main factions with those supporting President Sirisena and willing to work with the minority UNP government on one side. The Rajapaksa faction which included parts of the SLFP and UPFA acted as the main de facto opposition to the new regime. Nimal Siripala de Silva was appointed as parliamentary leader of the SLFP and the official Opposition Leader. During Maithripala Sirisena's term as President, SLFP members came to dominate the cabinet numerically, albeit largely with lower ranking positions. The SLFP, especially the Rajapaksa faction, were instrumental in revising the 19th Amendment to the constitution proposed by the UNP so as to reduce Presidential powers without transferring executive powers to the Prime Minister. However, rigorous attempts by President Sirisena and the SLFP to modify the prevailing and unpopular electoral system were unsuccessful due to stiff opposition from the UNP and other smaller parties. On 14 August 2015, Party Chairman and President Sirisena issued letter stating that Pro-Rajapaksa loyalist and General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has been removed from post and he claimed that Anura Priyadarshana Yapa was going against the party policy and disobeying the commands of chairman, Sirsena appointed his loyalist Duminda Dissanayake as "acting" General Secretary 48 hours ahead of Parliamentary Election, Sirisena also obtained court order to prevent Anura Priyadarshana Yapa from functioning as General Secretary thereafter till 24 August 2015, Eventually President Sirisena had sacked both General Secretaries of UPFA and SLFP  In the August general election the UPFA led by the SLFP only won 95 seats while its rival the UNFGG led by the UNP won 106 seats.