Lankan Prez names elder brother Mahinda as PM after Wickremesinghe resigns

November 20, 2019 18:32

Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday named his elder brother and former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister after incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his resignation from the post following the election debacle.

Mahinda, the current main opposition leader, will assume duties soon after incumbent Wickremesinghe steps down formally on Thursday.

Mahinda was appointed the Prime Minister on October 26, 2018 by the then President Maithripala Sirisena, who sacked Wickremesinghe in a controversial move that plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

He resigned in December as two crucial Supreme Court decisions made the former strongman's efforts to cling to premiership untenable.

The apex court later unanimously declared that the dissolution of Parliament by Sirisena was "illegal".

Mahinda won power in 2005 and went on to become South Asia's longest-serving leader. He became the country's youngest ever parliamentarian in 1970 at the age of 24.

The two brothers led a decisive campaign that helped end the island nation's three decade long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe announced his resignation, days after the ruling party's candidate lost the presidential election to Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa defeated Wickremesinghe's deputy Sajith Premadasa. -- PTI

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