Mahinda Rajapaksa to be sworn-in as care taker PM of Sri Lanka today

In Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa will be sworn in as new Prime Minister today after Ranil Wickremsinghe decided to resign from his post to pave way for a caretaker government.

Earlier, Wickremsinghe that while his government still has the majority in Parliament, it was decided to respect the mandate given to Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential election and step down.

The decision follows defeat of his party’s candidate Sajith Premadasa at the Presidential elections held on Saturday.

Rajapaksa will function as Prime Minister of the caretaker cabinet until the general election, to be held next year.

The former president was appointed the Prime Minister on October 26, 2018 by the then President Maithripala Sirisena, who sacked Wickremesinghe in a controversial move that plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.