Rajapaksa family dominates Sri Lanka's new Cabinet

Sri Lanka's new Cabinet, including four members of powerful Rajapaksa family, took oath on Wednesday with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa retaining key defence ministry while finance portfolio went to newly-elected Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa after ir party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last week.

President Gotabaya ministered oath of office to 28-member Cabinet which is two less than 30 allowed by Constitution. He also appointed 40 state ministers. swearing-in ceremony was held in central town of Kandy.

President Gotabaya retained ministry of defence while his elder bror Prime Minister Mahinda has been assigned finance, urban development and Buddhist affairs ministries.

Mahinda's elder son, Namal Rajapaksa has been named Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports - a first time Cabinet position since he entered parliament in 2010.

eldest bror of president, Chamal Rajapaksa was named irrigation minister in dition to being state minister of internal security. His son, Shasheendra Rajapaksa has also been given a state ministry.

One of main features in Cabinet is that while veteran politician Dinesh Gunawardena has been re-named foreign minister, a new state ministry of regional cooperation affiliated to foreign ministry has been created.

Significantly, former president Maithripala Sirisena has been overlooked for a Cabinet ministry despite his overwhelming win in elections from his rth central home base.

President Gotabaya also appointed his lawyer as justice minister. Ali Sabry appeared for Gotabaya when he faced court cases related to corruption as a top defence bureaucrat when Mahinda earlier served as president.

Sabri is only new face in Cabinet from new MPs elected.

Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP) won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections held last week that allowed influential family to consolidate power for next five years.

SLPP won a record 145 seats in 225-member parliament.

parliament is to meet on August 20 for its first session.

Sri Lanka was one of very few Asian countries apart from Singapore to hold general elections in midst of coronavirus pandemic.

Rajapaksa family -- including SLPP founder and its National Organiser 69-year-old Basil Rajapaksa, who is younger bror of Gotabaya, 71, and 74-year-old Mahinda -- has dominated Sri Lankan politics for two deces.

President Gotabaya h won vember presidential election on SLPP ticket. He dissolved Parliament in March and called for early snap elections.

In parliamentary election, he was seeking 150 seats needed to execute constitutional changes, including to repeal 19th Amendment introduced in 2015 that curtailed powers of President and strengned role of Parliament.

Activists, alrey alarmed by diminishing for dissent and criticism in island nation, fear such a move could le to authoritarianism.

United National Party (UNP) of former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe suffered a humiliating defeat during election. It just won a single seat, that too since party secured more than 2.5 per cent of votes cast under a proportional representation system of voting.

UNP leer and four-time prime minister Wikremesinghe was unseated for first time since he entered Parliament in 1977.

Mahinda earlier served as country's executive president from 2005-2015, a period which was mired by allegations of human rights abuses, especially against mirity Tamils.

He enjoys cult status among 77 per cent Sinhala majority community for his action to end brutal nearly three-dece-long civil war in island nation with defeat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

LTTE led by its leer Velupillai Prabhakaran h wd a violent campaign to carve out a separate Tamil homeland in rth and east of island nation.

new government will face challenges, especially on ecomic front. Following COVID-19 crisis, exports have slumped. Thousands of Sri Lankan expatriate workers, who have lost ir jobs, have returned home.

tourism industry, a major forex earner, faces a tough time ahe due to pandemic. PTI CORR PMS AKJ PMS PMS