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COLOMBO: Eighteen days after the Aug 17 parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, a 42-member cabinet was sworn in on Friday.
The cabinet comprises legislators from the two major groups _ an alliance led by President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the other by the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe — in line with an agreement signed between the two leaders last week envisaging the formation of a “national government”.
The national government is expected to continue for at least two years.
The UNP-led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) bagged 32 seats in the 42-member cabinet, receiving important portfolios like finance, home, health and education. President Sirisena kept the defence portfolio for himself.
TAMIL LEADER: Meanwhile, Thursday’s appointment of Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who heads the 16-member Tamil National Alliance (TNA) bloc in parliament, as Leader of Opposition is being hailed as a major move towards reconciliation in the country.
Analysts believe the move will reinforce the Lankan government’s attempts to gain control over a domestic investigation into allegations of war crimes by the United Nations.
Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015
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