Rajapaksa not taking opposition leader role

Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa settles into backseat role

20 August 2015 16:38 (Last updated 20 August 2015 16:52)

Sri Lanka's controversial former president focusing security affairs, not taking opposition leader role

 

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Thursday that he is ready to settle into a humbling new role as an ordinary parliamentarian, following a failed attempt to return to power as prime minister.

His Sri Lanka Freedom Party narrowly lost out to the ruling United National Party in Tuesday's parliamentary election, denying him a chance to return to power only eight months after being voted out. 

An aide of the former president told Anadolu Agency that he will accept the new role.

"The former president entered mainstream politics and contested on August 17 due to public demand. In the same way, he has no problem in taking his place as an ordinary parliamentarian," said MP Manusha Nanayakkara.

He added there was no possibility of the former president accepting the post of opposition leader.

The inclusion of a former president in parliament as an ordinary legislator is unprecedented and Rajapaksa’s entry has generated debate about the privileges and perks of a former president now presenting himself as a regulator legislator.  

Rajapaksa is expected to take a prominent seat on the opposition’s front bench, mandating himself to work on "issues concerning national security". 

The former present is credited with bringing a protracted 27-year-long civil war to an end in May 2009 by militarily crushing the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, though he has faced accusations that he ordered war crimes in the process.

Gayantha Karunathilake, a former spokesman for the ruling United National Party, said however that the dynamics of parliament are set to be changed after the election. 

"As promised, a national government will be formed," he said, alluding to President Maithripala Sirisena's calls for a government that cut across parties. 

Meanwhile Sirisena, who is head of Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party despite the two now being politically opposed, has begun maneuvering for more control of the party. 

In recent weeks he has suspended senior members allied to Rajapaksa and brought in his own allies in order to ease the formation of a national government, something Rajapaksa opposed.