Rajapaksa sworn in as PM in Sri Lanka, cementing family rule

9/8/2020 12:35

        Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the prime minister for the fourth time Sunday after his party secured a landslide victory in parliamentary elections that cemented his family's hold on power.
        
        Rajapaksa took oath before his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at a prominent Buddhist temple on the outskirts of the capital Colombo.
        
        Mahinda Rajapaksa served as the island nation's president from 2005 to 2015 and is highly popular among the ethnic majority Sinhalese for ending the country's 25-year civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009.
        
        He was first elected prime minister in 2004 and again appointed for brief periods in 2018 and 2019.