Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena swore in a new cabinet on Thursday, reinstating Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ministers.
It did the swearing-in after a court ruling put the premier back at the helm after a seven-week political crisis.
Sirisena retained the key portfolios of defence, law and order, while distributing 29 other cabinet positions to Wickremesinghe and his United National Party (UNP) members, a spokesman for the president’s office said.
Wickremesinghe was personally assigned key portfolios including economic affairs, national policy and rehabilitation and resettlement in the country’s former war-torn northern province.
The former foreign minister, Tilak Marapana, returns in the same capacity.
Sirisena assumed control of the law and order portfolio which includes the police department.
He has in the past claimed that the police are inefficient and have failed to carry out investigations on a reported plot to assassinate him.
Sirisena removed Wickremesinghe from the post of prime minister on Oct. 26 and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as premier, plunging the country into a political crisis.
Sirisena and Rajapaksa initially believed they could gain majority support in the country’s 225-seat national parliament in the capital Colombo, but failed.
Rajapaksa stepped down as prime minister on Dec. 15, ending the political stalemate and enabling Wickremesinghe to take up the post again. (dpa/NAN)
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