Mahinda Rajapaksa (born November 18, 1945), was elected president of Sri Lanka on November 18 2005. He became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on April 6 2004, following the victory of the United People's Freedom Alliance in the April 2, 2004 Sri Lankan legislative elections.
Rajapakse, a Sinhalese Buddhist from the southern district of Hambantota, is a lawyer who has represented the area in the Sri Lanka Parliament since 1970. His father represented the same area between 1947 and 1960. He is a long-time ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, whose Sri Lanka Freedom Party is the largest party in the Alliance. The Alliance won the largest number of seats at the elections but does not have an overall majority.
Kumaratunga was widely expected to appoint her close advisor and former Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, as Prime Minister. But Kadirgamar lacked popular credentials. The fact that he was a Tamil and a Christian may also have counted against him.
Rajapakse was Minister for Labour and for Fisheries in Kumaratunga's cabinet from 1994 to 2001. He created controversy when he moved to introduce a labour charter and set up villages for fishermen. His labour reforms were resisted by employers who asked Kumaratunga to remove him from the labour ministry. His labour charter was never implemented.
Unlike some members of the new government coalition, Rajapakse is believed to support peace talks with the Tamil Tigers as a means of ending the civil war with the Tamil secessionist movement. But his recent alignment with political parties such as JVP and JHU raised large concerns within his own party. SLFP leader President Chandrika Kumaratunga openly accused Rajapakse of pushing the country towards war because of his pact with nationalist forces.
Rajapaksa was chosen in front of Anura Bandaranaike, brother of Chandrika Kumaratunga, as the Presidential Candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party for the Presidential election due on November 17 2005. Rajapaksa was up against Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the United National Party (Sri Lanka's largest political party) in this election.
External links
- "Mahinda 4 Sri Lanka" A website with Mahinda Rajapaksa Biography, Photos, News and Critics
- BBC report on the election victory
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