Mahinda Rajapaksa to take oath as Sri Lanka's PM for 4th time tomorrow

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will be sworn in as the country’s new prime minister for the fourth time at a historic Buddhist temple on Sunday, consolidating the hard-line political dynasty’s grip on power.

The 74-year-old Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) leader, who polled over 500,000 individual preference votes, the highest ever recorded by a candidate in the history of elections, will take the oath of office for the ninth Parliament at the sacred Rajamaha Viharaya in Kelaniya, a north Colombo suburb, according to an official statement.

The SLPP, led by Mahinda, registered a landslide victory in the general election, securing a two-thirds majority in Parliament needed to amend the Constitution to further consolidate the powerful Rajapaksa family’s grip on power.

It won in 145 constituencies, bagging a total of 150 seats with its allies, a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament. It polled 6.8 million votes (59.9 per cent).

The Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn-in on Monday, followed by the swearing-in of the state and deputy ministers, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.