Sri Lankan politician Harini Amarasuriya was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister on Tuesday, a day after Anura Kumara Dissanayake took oath as the island nation’s ninth Executive President.
Amarasuriya, who is from the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance led by President Dissayanake, succeeds Dinesh Gunawardena, who resigned from the post following the unsuccessful re-election bid of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the presidential polls.
Wickremesinghe, who assumed office in July 2022, came third, while opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was the runner-up.
Meanwhile, Aamarasuriya has also been assigned the portfolios of Justice, Industries, Science and Technology, Health, and Investment.
Who is Harini Amarasuriya?
(1.) Born on March 6, 1970, the NPP parliamentarian is the 16th prime minister of Sri Lanka, and the third woman to reach that office (after Sirimavo Bandarnaike and Chandrika Kumartunga, respectively).
(2.) She is also the country’s first female premier in nearly 25 years (Bandarnaike’s third and final term was from November 1994 -August 2000) and became a Member of Parliament (MP) through the NPP national list in 2020.
(3.) A university lecturer by profession and also an activist, her academic qualifications include BA (Honours) in Sociology, MA App. Anthropology and Development Studies, and PHD in Social Anthropology (from the University of Edinburgh).
(4.) In the ninth Parliament of Sri Lanka (2020-2024), she was present on 269 days and absent on 120 days, the Parliament’s website shows.
(5.) Amarasuriya is also the first academician-turned-politician to become the prime minister in Sri Lanka.