Colombo: Harini Amarasuriya was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister on Tuesday, September 24, becoming the first woman leader since Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the year 2000 to hold the post.
The 54-year-old National People’s Power (NPP) leader was sworn in by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who appointed his cabinet of four, including himself.
She has been assigned the portfolios of the Minister of Justice, Education, Labour, Industries, Science & Tech, Health, and Investment.
She has replaced Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who resigned from his post following the presidential election.
A rights activist and university lecturer, Amarasuriya is the first woman Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike took up office in 1994 and the third female Prime Minister in the country’s history.
NPP parliamentarians Vijitha Herath and Laxman Nipunarachchi were sworn in as cabinet ministers.
They would serve as the caretaker cabinet with the imminent dissolution of parliament to call for a snap parliamentary election.
The election could happen in late November, officials said.
Dissanayake, 56, was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s ninth president on Sunday following his victory in the presidential election.
Sri Lanka could face a snap parliamentary election in November
Sri Lanka could face a snap parliamentary election in November with new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday saying the current Parliament would be dissolved in two days.
Top election official Saman Sri Ratnayake said the election could be held between 52-66 days from the date of the dissolution of the Parliament. The next parliamentary election is due by August next year.
The Marxist leader said in the central Sri Lankan town of Kandy that the current Parliament’s mandate had expired and upon his win, he would immediately dissolve parliament.
The last election for the 225-member Parliament House was held in August 2020.
Dissanayake said he wanted a new assembly to push through his National People’s Power (NPP) reform agenda.
Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party’s broader front National People’s Power (NPP), defeated his closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in Saturday’s presidential election.
The election was the first to be held since mass protests unseated Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 after the country suffered an economic crisis.
