3 Rajapaksas sworn into Lanka Cabinet
■ Overall, 5 members of Rajapaksa family are lawmakers
◗ The 26 Cabinet members include Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Eldest brother Chamal Rajapaksa is irrigation minister and Namal Rajapaksa is the youth and sports minister
Colombo, Aug. 12: Sri Lanka’s president swore into office a new Cabinet on Wednesday that includes two of his brothers and a nephew, after a landslide election victory last week.
The 26 Cabinet members include Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also holds the finance, urban development and Buddhist affairs ministries. Eldest brother Chamal Rajapaksa is irrigation minister and Namal Rajapaksa is the youth and sports minister.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also appointed his lawyer as justice minister. Ali Sabry appeared for
Gotabaya when he faced court cases related to corruption as a top defense bureaucrat when Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier served as president.
A landslide election victory last week gave the Rajapaksas’ political party nearly the two-thirds
majority of seats required to make constitutional changes that could strengthen dynastic rule in the country. However, analysts say any changes that unsettle the balance of power between the Rajapaksas’ respective offices could trigger sibling rivalry. Five members of the Rajapaksa family are lawmakers — Mahinda Rajapaksa, his son Namal, eldest brother Chamal and his son Sashindra, and a nephew, Nipuna Ranawaka. Mahinda Rajapaksa has been promoting Namal as his heir.
In last week’s election, the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka People’s Front won 145 seats in the 225-member Parliament while its main opponent obtained only 54 seats, the election commission's results showed. A party representing ethnic minority Tamils won 10 seats, and 16 others were split among 12 small parties.