Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as Prime Minister
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka before President Maithripala Sirisena at a ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who contested against Wickremesinghe at the General Election, was also present at the occasion.
Meanwhile a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), the country’s two main parties, to work together in the next Parliament.
The MoU was signed by UNP General Secretary Kabir Hashim and SLFP Acting General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake.
Ranil Wickremasinghe who contested from the Colombo District in the General Election which drew to a close on Tuesday (17) consolidated his victory polling 500,506 votes. It is the highest number of votes polled by a candidate in Sri Lanka’s elections history.
Wickremesinghe was first appointed as the Prime Minister from 1993 – 1994 after the assassination of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
He was also elected as the Prime Minister from 2001 – 2004 when the United National Front Government won the parliamentary elections in 2001. Wickremesinghe was appointed as Prime Minister for the third time by President Sirisena after winning the 2015 Presidential Election.
A lawyer by profession, he was elected to Parliament in 1977 at the age of 28 having worked in the Youth League of the UNP since his university days. He held a number of portfolios in the J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa Governments. He was also the one time Minister of Education.
The other members of the cabinet are expected to be sworn in on Monday after the composition of the consensus based national government takes shape over the weekend.
The Wickremesinghe-led alliance emerged as the largest group in the 225 member parliament with 106 seats, seven seats short of simple majority.
On Thursday, the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which is led by President Maithripala Sirisena, agreed to form a national government with the United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.
(Ada Derana)
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Congratulations Sir for a record breaking victory
May All mighty God Give you the Strength and courage carry out duties and bring back good governance, humanity and remove poverty from this beautiful little Island that we call home, May you blessed my All mighty with the courage to clean the country of all crooks drug dealers Racists Extortionist murders Rapist and bring justice to all Mother Lanka’s Citizens . we citizens Look forward to live in peace in our Mother country. May All mighty God shower his blessing and protect you.
Cannot congratulate this guy, the rot is already setting in.
why wasn’t Sampanthan and Sumanthiran invited for this swearing-in?
There’s not a single Tamil in UNP’s national list. All nominated appear to be friends and relatives and Muslims.
Whither Yahapalanaya? there’s no way forward for the suffering Tamil masses.
Why should he invite Tamils, he has got a majority without the TNA seats. TNA should join hands with Mahinda and solve the Tamil issue. It is not easy, but its woth trying for the sake of the future of the Tamils and Sinhala people of Sri Lanka.