Today, the heir to the Rajapaksa legacy in Sri Lanka, Namal Rajapaksa, 38 years old as on Wednesday was named as SLPP candidate for presidency in a move that effectively ends the Rajapaksa dynasty’s support of the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe. Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP) – locally known by its popular Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna – announced the candidacy of younger Rajapaksa early on Wednesday at a party headquarters ceremony.
Namal’s entry makes it a four-way contest. President Wickremesinghe is running against main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The Rajapaksas played an important role when Mahinda Wickremesinghe won a parliamentary vote in July 2022 to replace Gotabaya for his remaining term.
No sooner had mid-April 2022 unprecedentedly developed into the first sovereign default since independence from Britain in 1948 than nearly civil war like conditions followed with local unrest arising over inflation and other economic strains that led to Gotabaya’s ouster.
This occurred on Wednesday only days after almost 100 of its MPs defected to Wickremesinghe upon announcing he would run as an independent candidate.
Those MPs have condemned their party’s decision to abandon Wickremesinghe but the SLPP threatened disciplinary action against them who support Wickremesinghe against party lines.
Namal was their last minute choice. According to sources, Dhammika Perera, a business tycoon who was favoured for this position, told his party on Tuesday that he couldn’t walk in due personal reasons.
