Wickremesinghe to be sworn-in as Sri Lanka's new PM today

August 20, 2015 08:42

Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn-in as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister today, returning to the office for a fourth term after his party won the closely contested general election.

Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) coalition won 106 seats in Monday's parliamentary election, just 7 short of a simple majority in the 225-member assembly but enough to form a government.

66-year-old veteran reformist was handpicked by President Maithripala Sirisena to lead a minority government after the ouster of longtime president Mahinda Rajapaksa in January.

A group of Sirisena supporters is likely to join a broad-based national unity government led by Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe became prime minister for the first time in May 1993, when a suicide bomber assassinated president Ranasinghe Premadasa. He got his second chance in 2002, when he was credited with pulling the country out of recession.

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