Two days short of his 79th birthday, two-times former president and two-times former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa vowed on Saturday “not to quit politics” just as yet. This was Mahinda’s first reaction since his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was trounced with just 3 per cent of the vote in Wednesday’s parliamentary election swamped by the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) winning absolute control of the House.
Seen as the hero of the Sinhala majority for ending the separatist war of the LTTE in the Tamil minority regions, Mahinda will turn 79 on Monday. Mahinda was president for two terms – 2005-10 and 2010-15 – and prime minister for two terms — from April 2004 to November 2005 and from 2019-22. He has been contesting parliamentary elections since 1970 and had been elected an MP in all the elections he contested except in 1977.
“No, we will not easily quit politics, we will keep on fighting,” he said responding to a question as he attended an SLPP meeting at party headquarters. The mandate received by the NPP must be respected, he said, adding, “The new faces must be allowed to govern.” He had earlier declared not to contest the Wednesday’s election from the north western Kurunegala district which he has represented.
In fact, all the Rajapaksa brothers — Mahinda, Gotabaya, Chamal and Basil — had declared not to contest the parliamentary election after decades-long representation. The heir to the Rajapaksa dynasty, Namal, too had opted out of the direct contest by placing his name on the cumulative votes polled national list of members of parliament.
Namal was on Saturday appointed to the new parliament from the national seat allocation for the SLPP. A leader who seemed electorally unassailable once was unceremonially ousted at the height of the 2022 economic crisis leading to violent street protests. He resigned as prime minister when his supporters violently attacked peaceful protestors.
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