Sri Lanka's new PM sworn in

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Sri Lanka's new PM sworn in

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has sworn in new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has sworn in new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday.

Rajapakse, 59, was appointed opposition leader after President Kumaratunga's People's Alliance lost the December 2001 parliamentary elections to the now outgoing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party.

He had been legislator since 1970 and served as labor minister and ports and fishery minister.

Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats inthe 225-member parliament in Friday's election but fell short of the 113 seats required to form a government and needs other parties to join in.

Kumaratunga dissolved the parliament on Feb. 7 and called the election four years ahead of schedule to end a standoff with Wickremesinghe over peace process aimed at ending the country's two decades of ethnic conflict.

Source: Xinhua

Questions?Comments? Click here

President wins Sri Lanka parliamentary polls

Rajapakse named new Sri Lankan PM

Israel's killing of Yassin fuels conflict: Commentary ( 2 Messages)

How the US could improve its image abroad ( 14 Messages)

US urged not to fingerprint Chinese ( 10 Messages)

China hunts corrupt officials who abscond overseas ( 3 Messages)

Seven Chinese activists land on Diaoyu Islands ( 4 Messages)