No journalists allowed as Ranil is sworn in
Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn in today for the fifth time as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka at the Presidential Secretariat without media presence.
President Maithripala Sirisena had previously vowed that he would not hold the office a single day if Wickramasinghe retains his office.
After the constitutional coup, President Sirisena repeatedly rejected Wickramasinghe appointed as Prime Minister although the latter proved he had the majority support in the parliament.
Sirisena’s coup failed with Supreme Court deciding the dissolution of parliament prematurely by him was illegal. Further, the Court of Appeal suspended the newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. He appealed to the Supreme Court to get his suspension withdrawn but failed.
Wickramasinghe was first sworn in as Prime Minister in 1993 when his predecessor D.B. Wijethunga succeeded President R. Premadasa who was slain by Tamil rebel suicide bomber.
He was elected Prime Minister in 2001 December but failed to hold office for a full term because President Chandrika Bandaranaike called snap elections which his party lost.
In 2015, President Sirisena was elected with the support of Wickramasinghe-led United National Party (UNP) and he appointed Wickramasinghe as Prime Minister immediately after that. UNP won 2015 August election and Wickramasinghe held the Prime Minister position until President Sirisena ripped off his powers in a coup with the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.