Rajapaksas officially ditch Wickremesinghe

COLOMBO: Namal Rajapaksa, the 38-year-old heir to the Rajapaksa dynasty, was on Wednesday named as the SLPP candidate for the presidential election, thus officially ending Rajapaksa family’s backing to the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sagara Kariyawasam, the general secretary of the Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP, also known locally by its popular Sinhalese name, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna), announced the younger Rajapaksa’s candidacy early on Wednesday morning at a ceremony at the party headquarters.

Namal’s entry has made the election a four-cornered contest.

Besides, President Wickremesinghe, the main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and the Marxist JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are already in the fray.

The Rajapaksas — Mahinda, Basil and Gotabaya — were instrumental in Wickremesinghe winning the parliamentary vote in July 2022 to take over Gotabaya’s remaining term.