Srı Lanka 21st Prıme Mınıster

epa02126489 A handout photograph released by the President Media Division showing Senior Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne (R) being sworn in as Sri Lanka?s 21st Prime Minister after independencethe 12th under the present Constitution by President Mahinda Rajapaksa (L) while president?s secretary Lalith Weeratunge (C) watches at Temple Trees in Colombo 21 April 2010. A close confidante of President Rajapaksa, Jayaratne, 67, is a party stalwart who became a member of parliament in 1970 after a career in the Postal Department in the central Kandy district. He becomes the 21st Prime Minister of the island after independencethe 12th under the present Constitution. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent in the United People?s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) which won 144 seats in the 225-member Parliament at the general elections held recently appointed Jayaratne through the national list as a member of parliament. A parliamentarian from 1970, Jayaratne did not contest at the recent poll. Though the post of Prime Minister is largely ceremonial in Sri Lanka under the existing Constitution, in the event of the President?s death, the holder would be expected to step in as the President, as happened with D.B. Wijetunge after the assassination of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa.  EPA/PRESIDENT MEDIA DIVISION / HANDOUT