Sri Lanka's ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in as PM

Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa's new party had pulled off a stunning victory in local elections in February seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance. Photo: Reuters

Colombo: Former President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as prime minister on Friday, after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe in a surprise move that threatens political turmoil in the Indian Ocean nation.

The appointment was confirmed in a statement from the president's office, but Wickremesinghe later told local television he remained the prime minister.

"I retain the confidence of the house. I am the prime minister and I have the majority," Wickremesinghe said. "According to the constitution I'm the prime minister. That is not legal."

Local television pictures had shown Rajapaksa, who last month led opposition protests against the government, being sworn in before Sirisena, surrounded by a number of opposition legislators.

Underlining the risk of chaos in Sri Lanka, where the government had been under pressure over a misfiring economy, Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Twitter that the appointment of Rajapaksa as prime minister was a violation of the constitution, which was amended in 2015 to curtail the executive powers of the president.

"This is an anti-democratic coup," Samaraweera tweeted.

Earlier on Friday, President Sirisena's party withdrew from the ruling coalition, a senior minister was quoted as saying by the media.

The unity of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) 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.

The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) withdrew from the government, UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror news.

"The UPFA left the coalition government," he said.

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.

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