Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04COLOMBO601
2004-04-06 12:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

Sri Lanka: President swears in new PM,

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PINR CE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000601 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA; PLS PASS TO USTR J.
ROSENBAUM

NSC FOR E. MILLARD; TREASURY FOR R. ADKINS; COMMERCE FOR

A. BENAISSA

NEW DELHI PLEASE PASS TO CODEL DREIER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04-06-14
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR CE
SUBJECT: Sri Lanka: President swears in new PM,
Mahinda Rajapakse; Cabinet slated to be named soon

Refs: (A) Colombo - OpsCenter 04-06-04 telecon
- (B) Colombo 587, and previous

(U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead.
Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000601

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA; PLS PASS TO USTR J.
ROSENBAUM

NSC FOR E. MILLARD; TREASURY FOR R. ADKINS; COMMERCE FOR

A. BENAISSA

NEW DELHI PLEASE PASS TO CODEL DREIER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04-06-14
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR CE
SUBJECT: Sri Lanka: President swears in new PM,
Mahinda Rajapakse; Cabinet slated to be named soon

Refs: (A) Colombo - OpsCenter 04-06-04 telecon
- (B) Colombo 587, and previous

(U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead.
Reasons 1.5 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On April 6, President Kumaratunga
swore in Mahinda Rajapakse, a senior leader in her SLFP
party, as Sri Lanka's next prime minister. A new
cabinet may be sworn in the next day or so. In the
meantime, the President's UPFA grouping (SLFP plus JVP)
continues to look for partners in order to attain a
majority in Parliament (it has until April 22, when the
new Parliament first sits to prove its majority status).
Mission knows Rajapakse well. He is affable and
relatively moderate on peace process and economic
issues. Bio-data is provided in Para 8. END SUMMARY.

===================
Rajapakse is new PM
===================


2. (C) Early April 6, President Chandrika Kumaratunga
swore in Mahinda Rajapakse, a senior leader in her Sri
Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and former Opposition Leader,
as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister. (Bio-data on
Rajapakse is provided in Para 8.) The ceremony followed
Sri Lanka's parliamentary election on April 2 in which
the President's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA)
won the most seats in Parliament (see Reftels). (The
UPFA is an alliance of the SLFP and the Marxist Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna, "JVP.") The swearing in ceremony,
which was carried live on national television, was a
brief one. It took place in front of a large crowd of
party supporters gathered at the President's Offices in
Colombo's Fort area. Before and after the ceremony,
Rajapakse received the blessing of several Buddhist
monks. The ceremony itself was supposed to take place
at an "auspicious" time specified to be 10:10 a.m., but
-- as is the case with many events involving the
President -- it started over an hour late.


3. (C) Rajapakse replaces Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM.

Wickremesinghe, the leader of the United National Party
(UNP) which fared very poorly in the election, had been
prime minister since December 2001, and is slated to
become the next Opposition leader in Parliament (if his
party agrees). He has now moved out of Temple Trees,
the PM's official residence across from the Embassy, and
Rajapakse is expected to move in shortly. (Bradman
Weerakoon, Wickremesinghe's secretary and the secretary
for many previous Sri Lankan leaders, is scheduled to
leave his post late April 6. Weerakoon's replacement in
this very important position has not been announced: we
have heard that it could be Lalith Weeratunga, who
served as the secretary to Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, the
previous People's Alliance, "PA," PM. It is also
possible that an assistant to Rajapakse could be named
to the slot.)

=========================
Cabinet to be named later
=========================


4. (C) A new cabinet is expected to be sworn in soon,
perhaps as early as late April 6 or April 7. Due to the
influence of the JVP, which has vociferously complained
about the large number of ministerial positions in
previous governments, the UPFA cabinet should be
relatively small by Sri Lankan standards, perhaps 30 or
so ministers and a handful of deputy ministers. (The
UNP government maintained about 70 ministerial positions
and the previous PA government had almost 70-80 at
times.)


5. (C) Not unexpectedly, there is reportedly a debate
going on within UPFA circles as to who should receive
ministerial allotments. The JVP appears set to receive
at least four ministries, although there are reports
that the party is arguing for more based on its
impressive showing in the election. We have been told
by contacts that President Kumaratunga will retain
control of the defense and internal security (formerly
interior) portfolios, which she took over from the
previous UNP government in November 2003. Lakshman
Kadirgamar, a close adviser to the President, is rumored
to be the prime candidate to take over as foreign
minister. (Kadirgamar had been mentioned as a candidate
to be PM, but lost out to Rajapakse. He was foreign
minister in the previous PA government from 1994-2001.)

=============================================
UPFA continues to try to gain majority status
=============================================


6. (C) Even as a new PM was sworn in and a cabinet is
being selected, the UPFA continues its efforts to
convince smaller parties to join with it, so that it can
attain the 113 seats or more necessary to form a
majority in Sri Lanka's Parliament. (The UPFA won 105
seats in Parliament. It has until April 22 -- the date
the new Parliament first meets -- to show it has
majority support in Parliament. If it does not do so by
that timeframe, a UPFA "minority" government could be
subject to a vote of no confidence.) The UPFA is
reported to be working with the following smaller
parties in order to obtain their support:

-- The UPFA has approached the Jathika Hela Urumaya
(JHU) party, which ran an all-Buddhist monk candidate
slate and won nine parliamentary seats. The JHU, for
its part, has stated in the press that it has no plans
to join in a government. Various monks affiliated with
the JHU have been quoted as stating that the party is
willing to extend its support on individual items of
legislation on a case-by-case basis, but that it will
otherwise remain neutral in Parliament.

-- Reports also indicate that the UPFA has made
overtures to the tea estate Tamil Ceylon Worker's
Congress (CWC),which won 6-7 seats. The CWC has
traditionally liked to be on the winning side, so that
its leader, A. Thondaman, can maintain control of the
ministry of plantations. (This portfolio has been held
by the CWC through several governments, including by
Thondaman's grandfather, the CWC founder.) In recent
years, Thondaman has drawn closer to the Tamil Tigers,
who have long been at odds with President Kumaratunga,
and it is uncertain whether that factor may influence
his decision on whether or not to link up with the UPFA.
There are also reports that another tea estate party,
the Upcountry People's Front (UPF),has been contacted
by the UPFA. (The UPF won one seat and is known to be
very pro-Tamil Tiger.)

-- The UPFA has also been in touch with the Sri Lanka
Muslim Congress (SLMC),which secured five seats. SLMC
leader Rauf Hakeem is reported to want to hold on to his
position as Minister of Ports and Shipping, a post that
the SLMC has controlled through the previous UNP and PA
governments. Holding on to that ministry is hardly a
fait accompli for Hakeem, however, as there are several
Muslim MPs in the President's UPFA political grouping
who broke with the SLMC earlier in the year and are
known to be hostile to Hakeem. Hakeem also does not get
along well with Kumaratunga. These factors may make the
SLMC a bad fit for the UPFA.

-- There are also reports that the UPFA has been in
touch with the 4-5 MPs from the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA) party who are reportedly aligned with eastern
rebel leader Karuna. (The TNA won a total 22 seats in
the election.) The TNA, which ran in the April 2
election as the "Ilanki Tamil Arasu Katchchi" (ITAK -
"Federal Party"),is reportedly holding a meeting late
April 6 to discuss its posture regarding the upcoming
Parliament. A link-up with the UPFA by pro-Karuna MP's
would no doubt enrage LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

-- The anti-Tamil Tiger Eelam People's Democratic Party
(EPDP) has already declared its support for the UPFA.
The EPDP won one seat in the election.

=======
COMMENT
=======


7. (C) Mission knows Rajapakse well and he has met with
many high-level USG visitors to Sri Lanka. He is
affable and easy to approach, and seemingly moderate on
peace process and economic issues. He also appears
relatively receptive to U.S. views. That said, he is
likely to be overshadowed by President Kumaratunga, who
has a dominating personality (to put it mildly) and
controls most of the key levers of power as president to
boot. There is little doubt that she will make
virtually all of the key peace process and economic
decisions. (Rajapakse knows his place in the hierarchy:
when asked by a journalist before his swearing-in
ceremony today about his responsibilities in office, he
replied straightforwardly enough, "the President will
handle the peace process.") Rajapakse is likely to get
in his views, but only edgewise. He also told the press
today that he wants to see India more involved in the
peace process. It's not clear exactly what he means.
END COMMENT.


8. Bio-Data on new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse
follows:

-- Rajapakse, 58, who was sworn in as prime minister on
April 6, was the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri
Lankan Parliament from 2002-2004. In a political career
spanning over three decades, he was a Member of
Parliament from 1970-77 and from 1989 until the present.
He has served previously as minister of fisheries. He
is currently Senior Vice President of the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party (SLFP),the leading constituent element of
President Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) grouping.
In March 2002, President Kumaratunga appointed him
Opposition Leader. Since that appointment, Rajapakse
has been involved in a rivalry with Anura Bandaranaike,
a senior SLFP MP and the president's brother. Along
with Bandaranaike, Rajapakse has been hinting that he
should be the next SLFP presidential candidate in
elections expected in 2005-2006. Rajapakse hails from
Hambantota District in Sri Lanka's deep south. His
father, D.A. Rajapakse, who died in 1967, was a longtime
SLFP MP and a minister. Rajapakse is a lawyer by
training. He was an IVP participant in 1989. A
Sinhalese Buddhist, he is married and has three sons.

End Bio-data.


9. (U) Minimize considered.

LUNSTEAD