Rajapaksa names his brother as Prime Minister

Top Stories

Rajapaksa names his brother as Prime Minister

Colombo - A spokesman for the new administration said Mahinda, 74, will be sworn in by the 70-year-old Gotabaya.

By AFP

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Wed 20 Nov 2019, 9:00 PM

Last updated: Wed 20 Nov 2019, 11:20 PM

Newly elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday named his brother Mahinda as Prime Minister, cementing the grip on power of a clan credited with brutally crushing the Tamil Tigers a decade ago.
Mahinda, a two-term president himself, will be sworn in as PM on Thursday following the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe after his party suffered a humiliating defeat at the weekend's presidential polls.
The Rajapaksa brothers ruthlessly destroyed the Tamil Tigers to end Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war, with the security services they controlled accused of war crimes and multiple human rights abuses. A spokesman for the new administration said Mahinda, 74, will be sworn in by the 70-year-old Gotabaya.


More news from