Sri Lanka’s new cabinet sworn in

The new cabinet ministers were chosen among the 159 members of parliament from the National People's Power (NPP) elected in the November 14 parliamentary election

Colomo: Twenty-one cabinet ministers were sworn in before Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday morning at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.

Deputy ministers will be sworn in later, it was announced at the event. After Dissanayake won the September 21 presidential election, he governed with a cabinet composed of Harini Amarasuriya and Vijitha Herath, reports Xinhua news agency.

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The new cabinet ministers were chosen among the 159 members of parliament from the National People’s Power (NPP) elected in the November 14 parliamentary election.

This is the first time a political party has won two-thirds of the majority in parliament since the introduction of the proportional representation system.

Amarasuriya continued to serve as prime minister in the new cabinet, and Herath was re-appointed as minister of foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism.

Addressing the new cabinet, President Dissanayake said people have voted for the NPP twice, in September and November to change the political and economic trajectory of Sri Lanka.

People have placed their trust in the NPP based on their policies and the integrity of party members, and from now on, the people will judge the NPP based on their performance as a government, he said.

Dissanayake said Sri Lankan people have voted for them across ethnic and religious divides and that they are committed to protecting and enhancing the rights of the people.