Executive President appoints Dr. Harini Amarasuriya as 16th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

POST-ELECTION RHETORIC
Executive President appoints Dr. Harini Amarasuriya as 16th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
Post-election rhetoric sees positive changes in Sri Lanka
By: Upali Obeyesekere – CSLBC President on 24 September 2024.
First order of business for newly elected President of Sri Lanka Anura Kumara Dissanayake was to appoint Dr. Harini Amarasuriya as 16th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. She took the oath of office on 24 September. Her academic background could bring a depth of analysis to policymaking, while her activist roots keep her connected to grassroots concerns. Amarasuriya, who is from the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance succeeds Dinesh Gunawardena, who resigned from the post following the unsuccessful re-election bid of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the presidential polls.
An academic, college professor and first-time lawmaker, Amarasuriya is the third woman prime minister of Sri Lanka, following the world’s first woman prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960, and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994. In a country that once made history by electing the world’s first woman prime minister but today ranks at the bottom for women’s political representation, Harini Amarasuriya’s appointment as Sri Lanka’s 16th Prime Minister breaks the glass ceiling in Sri Lanka and the South Asian political landscape.
Soon after taking over, the new president said he had no magic solution to hardships people were facing but would seek a collective effort to end the crisis. In Sri Lanka, the president heads the cabinet and appoints ministers from MPs, while the prime minister acts as the president’s deputy and leads the ruling party. Just before Dissanayake took the oath as president on Monday, Dinesh Gunawardene resigned as prime minister.

World Bank pledges support to President Anura Dissanayake towards Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and development. In an official letter, Martin Raiser, Vice President for the South Asia Region of the World Bank, and Riccardo Puliti, Vice President for the Asia, and Pacific Region of the International Finance Corporation, extended warm congratulations to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on his election as the 9th Executive President of Sri Lanka. The letter, while recognising that the country’s economic reset requires the State’s continued attention, states that ‘opportunities for growth, prosperity, and development are equally significant’.
The letter also affirms the World Bank group’s commitment to fostering inclusive growth and addressing the needs of the country’s most vulnerable populations under the new administration’s leadership.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake got down to business right away and led the way for post-election rhetoric that was the hallmark of a committed leader. He appointed a three-member cabinet comprised of Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, former MP Vijitha Herath and the president himself. The president retained the Ministerial portfolios of Defense, Finance, Economic Development, Policy Formulation, Planning and Tourism, Energy, Agriculture, Land, Livestock, Irrigation, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya was sworn-in as the Minister of Justice, Public Administration, Provincial Councils, Local Government and Labour, Education, Industries, Science and Technology, Women, Child, Youth Affairs, Sports, Health, and Food Security, Trade, Commercial, Cooperative Development, and Entrepreneur Development.
Vijitha Herath will hold the following Ministerial portfolios. Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, National Integration, Social Security and Mass Media, Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation, Public Security, Foreign Affairs, Environment, Wildlife, Forest Resources, Water Supply, Plantation and Community, Infrastructure, Rural and Urban development, Housing and Construction.
Sri Lanka’s new president dissolved parliament on 24 September, to make way for a snap general election. The president dissolved the 225-member parliament in which his National People’s Power (NPP) alliance had just three seats. The general election will take place on 14 November, a year ahead of schedule, according to a notification in the official government gazette. The President has issued the Gazette by virtue of the powers vested in him by Article 70 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and in pursuance of the provisions of Section 10 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, No. 1 of 1981. The Gazette notification further specifies the period beginning on October 04 and ending at 12 noon October 11, 2024, as the nomination period, during which nomination papers shall be received by the Returning Officers. The proclamation dissolves Parliament with effect from midnight today and summons the new Parliament to meet on the November 21, 2024. The nation’s executive system gives the president power to dissolve parliament and call snap polls, as well as to hold multiple cabinet portfolios.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed new governors to nine provinces. They were sworn in before the President at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Wednesday (25).
The newly appointed Governors are as follows:
Hanif Yusuf, Governor of the Western Province – 2. Sarath Bandara Samarasinghe Abayakoon, Governor of the Central Province – 3. Bandula Harischandra, Governor of the Southern Province – 4. Tissa Kumarasiri Warnasuriya, Governor of the North Western Province – 5. Wasantha Kumara Wimalasiri, Governor of the North Central Province – 6. Nagalingam Vethanayagam, Governor of the Northern Province – 7. Jayantha Lal Ratnasekara, Governor of the Eastern Province – 8. Champa Janaki Rajaratne, Governor of the Sabaragamuwa Province – 9. Kapila Jayasekara, Governor of the Uva Province.
Former ministers ordered to vacate state owned houses
All former ministers who had occupied state-provided official residences during their tenures have been directed to immediately vacate the premises and hand them over to the government. The Ministry of Public Administration informed the former ministers, in this regard, in writing yesterday. It is reported that fifty houses had been granted to former ministers and state ministers. However, the Ministry of Public Administration has permitted former parliamentarians residing at the Madiwela Housing Complex for MPs to continue to do so until the conclusion of the upcoming General Election.

35 Presidential candidates to lose security deposits
The Election Commission (EC) has stated that 35 Presidential candidates will not get their security deposits refunded which was placed to contest the 2024 Presidential Election. The Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said that this decision has been taken due to these 35 candidates not achieving the minimum requirement of 12.5 percent of the vote in the Presidential Election which was concluded recently.

Other key appointments
• President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Senior DIG Priyantha Weerasooriya as the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP). This decision was made under the constitutional powers vested in the President. It may be recalled that former president Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to accept Supreme Court decision to remove former IGP Deshabandu Thennakoon. The court held that the President should or may name a suitable person for the post of IGP, during the period of the interim order being enforced against Tennakoon. However, Wickremesinghe refuted this order that went against him at the presidential elections.
• New Secretaries were appointed for 15-line ministries, including key roles such as the Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD).