Sri Lanka President appoints new Cabinet for his second term

Following his inauguration into a second term last Friday Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed the incumbent Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne to the premier position and swore-in the new cabinet of ministers this morning.


President Rajapaksa appointed 59 senior ministers and 33 deputy ministers to the Cabinet a short while ago. Among them were 16 newcomers.

Several junior ministers in the previous cabinet including Sarath Amunugama, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Jagath Pushpakumara, Dilan Perera, T.B. Ekanayaka, Dayashritha Tissera, and Mervyn Silva received senior minister posts with the creation of several new ministries.


The recent crossovers to the government Lakshman Senevirathne and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem have been rewarded with ministerial portfolios.

President Rajapaksa has retained the key ministries of defense, finance, ports and aviation, and highways while most of the senior ministers have retained their portfolios.

President's brother Basil Rajapaksa will retain his portfolio as the Minister of Economic Development while Prof. G.L. Peiris will continue as the External Affairs Minister.