Rajapakse sworn-in Prime Minister
[April 6, 2004 - 10.00 GMT]

Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn-in as the new Prime Minister before President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the President’s Office this morning.   

Rajapakse was leader of the Opposition since March 2002. An Attorney-At-Law, he was first elected to Parliament from Beliatta in 1970. Then aged just 24  he was the youngest Parliamentarian. His father D.A Rajapakse had represented the same electorate from 1947 to 1965.

Born in Weeraketiya, a town in the Hambantota district, Southern province, Rajapakse schooled at Richmond College, Galle and later moved to Colombo for his education where he schooled at Nalanda College and Thurstan College.

Throughout his Parliamentary career, except from the period 1994-2001 when he was a cabinet minister, he has continued his law practice in the Southern town of Tangalle. In 1994 he held the Labour and Vocational Training portfolio. From 1997 he served as Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Development. In September 2001 Rajapakse was Minister of Ports, Shipping and Fisheries.

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Last Updated Date: April 6, 2004  - 10.00 GMT.