New Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse swore in a 25-member cabinet on Wednesday, demoting key figures from his predecessor’s team and keeping the defense and finance portfolios for himself.
Combining the presidency and defense minister roles was expected as Rajapakse followed in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors.
But while former President Chandrika Kumaratunga previously held the finance post for some of the time she was in office some experts say combining the two may be unconstitutional.
The ultra-nationalist JVP party which helped sweep Rajapakse to power by mobilising the southern vote has decided not to accept any cabinet positions, officials said. The JVP will not rejoin the ruling coalition led by Rajapakse’s party either, they said.
The JVP was said to be unhappy with the posts offered and declined them, the BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya, reported, adding the all-monk JHU said it had not expected posts and would support the government.
Sandeshaya said the JVP was offered five portfolios but disagreements led the party to decide not to take any.
The JVP’s not joining the minority government may point to an early parliamentary election to allow President Rajapakse to strengthen the representation of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which leads the ruling coalition.
Parliamentary elections are not necessary for more than five years, but the president is allowed to call an election a year after those which decided the present makeup of the 225-seat house.
Rajapske Monday appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a prominent Sinhala nationalist, as Prime Minister, though analysts suggest he might be replaced if a deal with other parties necessitates it.
However, the swearing in of the rest of the cabinet was delayed from Monday because of the horse-trading over jobs.
Eighteen ministers without cabinet rank and 29 deputy ministers were also sworn in Wednesday.
Former finance minister Sarath Amunugama, who presented a budget days before the election that now looks to be at least partly scrapped, was appointed minister for public administration and home affairs.
The previous budget, delivered days before the election, was seen falling short of some of Rajapakse’s manifesto pledges on subsidies for goods from milk powder to fertilizers.
“I think Amunugama is paying the price for being loyal to [Kumaratugna] in presenting a budget that she wanted and not that Mahinda wanted,” Rohan Edrisinha at Colombo’s Centre for Policy Alternatives told Reuters.
Kumaratunga is accused by Rajapakse’s camp of subtly undermining his election campaign.
The foreign ministry went to Mangala Samaraweera, who managed Rajapakse’s campaign. Samaraweera will also remain minister of ports and aviation.
Previous foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike, who is also Kumaratunga’s brother and also often criticised Rajapakse head of the vote, also lost his post as foreign minister.
A former media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa got his old job back to head the Media and Information ministry.
Combining the presidency and defense minister roles was expected as Rajapakse followed in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors.
But while former President Chandrika Kumaratunga previously held the finance post for some of the time she was in office some experts say combining the two may be unconstitutional.
The ultra-nationalist JVP party which helped sweep Rajapakse to power by mobilising the southern vote has decided not to accept any cabinet positions, officials said. The JVP will not rejoin the ruling coalition led by Rajapakse’s party either, they said.
The JVP was said to be unhappy with the posts offered and declined them, the BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya, reported, adding the all-monk JHU said it had not expected posts and would support the government.
Sandeshaya said the JVP was offered five portfolios but disagreements led the party to decide not to take any.
The JVP’s not joining the minority government may point to an early parliamentary election to allow President Rajapakse to strengthen the representation of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which leads the ruling coalition.
Parliamentary elections are not necessary for more than five years, but the president is allowed to call an election a year after those which decided the present makeup of the 225-seat house.
Rajapske Monday appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a prominent Sinhala nationalist, as Prime Minister, though analysts suggest he might be replaced if a deal with other parties necessitates it.
However, the swearing in of the rest of the cabinet was delayed from Monday because of the horse-trading over jobs.
Eighteen ministers without cabinet rank and 29 deputy ministers were also sworn in Wednesday.
Former finance minister Sarath Amunugama, who presented a budget days before the election that now looks to be at least partly scrapped, was appointed minister for public administration and home affairs.
The previous budget, delivered days before the election, was seen falling short of some of Rajapakse’s manifesto pledges on subsidies for goods from milk powder to fertilizers.
“I think Amunugama is paying the price for being loyal to [Kumaratugna] in presenting a budget that she wanted and not that Mahinda wanted,” Rohan Edrisinha at Colombo’s Centre for Policy Alternatives told Reuters.
Kumaratunga is accused by Rajapakse’s camp of subtly undermining his election campaign.
The foreign ministry went to Mangala Samaraweera, who managed Rajapakse’s campaign. Samaraweera will also remain minister of ports and aviation.
Previous foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike, who is also Kumaratunga’s brother and also often criticised Rajapakse head of the vote, also lost his post as foreign minister.
A former media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa got his old job back to head the Media and Information ministry.
