Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister a short while ago.

Wickremesinghe was sworn in by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who had assured the nation on Wednesday that he would form a new government within a week to end political instability.

It was the sixth time Wickremesinghe got the post.

He has been sworn in as the Prime Minister on five occasions before.

He was first appointed as PM from 1993 – 1994 after the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

From 2001 to 2004 he was elected as the Prime Minister to lead the United National Front Government during the presidency of President Chandrika Bandaranayake.

In January 2015, he was appointed as the Prime Minister of the coalition government on the election of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Once again, in December 2018, then-President Sirisena was compelled to appoint him as PM after having dismissed him in October 2018.

In November 2019, after the defeat of the UNP presidential candidate, he resigned from his position of Prime Minister.