Sri Lankan Main Opposition Appoints New Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Sri Lankan Main Opposition Appoints New Leader

Sri Lanka's main opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) appointed on Monday former Fisheries Minister and MP Mahinda Rajapakse as its new leader.

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Sri Lanka's main opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) appointed on Monday former Fisheries Minister and MP Mahinda Rajapakse as its new leader.

The SLFP sources said that the party's central committee which met on Monday night had ratified Rajapakse's appointment.

His name was proposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and seconded by former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Rajapakse, a popular politician from the south of the country, entered the Parliament for the first time as a young MP in 1970.

The grassroots supporters of the SLFP, which is the flagship party in Kumaratunga's People's Alliance, have demanded that Rajapakse be appointed the opposition leader replacing former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

It is reported that Wickremenayake resigned from the post last week.

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