Turmoil in Sri Lanka as ex-president Rajapaksa sworn in as PM

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was on Friday sworn-in as the Prime Minister before the current President Maithripala Sisisena, Sri Lankan media reports.

Image Courtesy: Reuters

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was on Friday sworn-in as the Prime Minister in a sudden political development before the current President Maithripala Sisisena. 

Television aired Rajapaksa swearing in before President Maithripala Sirisena, surrounded by a number of opposition legislators. 

In a sudden political development in #SriLanka, former President Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as new Prime minister of the country replacing Mr. Ranil Wickremsinghe pic.twitter.com/NFrM9Q1M0l

— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) October 26, 2018

Mahinda Rajapaksa became the 11th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after replacing Ranil Wickremesinghe. Prior to this, Rajapaksa has also served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka till January 2015. Rajapaksa has also served as Prime Minister in 2004 until he won presidential elections.

The change in power came after Sirisena's broader political front United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) announced that it has decided to quit the current unity government with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP).

Mahinda Amaraweera, agriculture minister and the general secretary of the UPFA, told reporters that the UPFA decision has been conveyed to Parliament.

The unity government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena was elected President with Wickremesinghe's support, ending a nearly decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

Sirisena, who was Rajapaksa's minister of health, broke away from him to contest the presidential elections.

Political analysts said Sirisena's move to install Rajapaksa as the prime minister could lead to a constitutional crisis as the 19th amendment to the Constitution would not allow the sacking of Wickremesinghe as the premier without a majority.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority. Wickremesinghe's UNP has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

There was no immediate comment from Wickremesinghe or the UNP.

President Sirisena's party withdrew from the ruling coalition after simmering tensions between him and Wickremesinghe.

The unity government was thrown into a crisis after Rajapaksa's new party pulled off a stunning victory in local elections in February seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance.

Last week, it was reported that Sirisena accused his senior coalition partner the UNP of not taking seriously an alleged conspiracy to assassinate him and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former top defence ministry bureaucrat and brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa.