President Kumaratunga
completes nine years in office
[November
13, 2003 -
10.30
GMT]
 Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga emerged as a national leader after guiding her
Peoples’ Alliance to victory in the 1994 General Elections. She was the
country’s 2nd woman prime minister. In October that year she was
elected Executive President with an unprecedented majority. Over 62% of the
country voted her in on her pledge of ‘Peace with dignity for all Lankan’.
In
1993 Mrs. Kumaratunga formed the Peoples’ Alliance. She immediately won
public confidence being elected to the Western Provincial Council. One year
later, she was elected to Parliament, appointed Prime Minister and elected
as Executive President of Sri Lanka.
Mrs.
Kumaratunga is the daughter of the founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP),
SWRD Bandaranaike and the daughter of the one who preserved the party,
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, therefore in terms of pedigree and lineage and
credentials she is impeccable. Nevertheless she had the courage and
conviction to revolutionise the old SLFP doctrine and to make it a modern
truly people-friendly party.
In the
mid 1980’s Chandrika Kumaratunga as a young politician, was a peace
activist. Together with her late husband Vijaya she worked with the
single-minded objective of achieving a lasting peace. She travelled to
war-torn Jaffna and also to Chennai for discussions with the Northern
militants. Once in power, Prime Minister Kumaratunga began her peace process
with the Northern militants even before she was elected President.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga still remains committed to finding a
negotiated settlement to the country’s decades old ethnic conflict, by
aiding the current Ceasefire Agreement between the government of Sri Lanka
and the LTTE.
Yesterday November 12, 2003 President Kumaratunga completed nine years in
office.
PRINT
THIS STORY
Contact Information: Send mail to gosl@presidentsl.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Last Updated
Date: November 13, 2003 -10.30
GMT. |
