Colombo: Chamal Rajapaksa, the brother
of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was today sworn-in
as the new speaker of Parliament which met here for the first
time after the elections won by the ruling party.
Chamal was earlier the Ports and Aviation Minister.
Priyankara Jayaratna was named as Deputy Speaker.
Detained former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, who
unsuccessfully challenged President Rajapaksa in presidential
elections in January, also attended the opening session.
He was driven in under tight security.
Fonseka, who is heading the seven member Democratic
National Alliance, was elected from Colombo district. He is
facing two courts martial for his alleged illegal arms deal
and other charges.
The new 225-member Parliament was also sworn in this
morning.
The seventh parliament consists of 144 members of the
ruling UPFA, 60 of the main Opposition United National Party,
14 of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance and 7 of the
Marxist dominated DNA.
PTI
