Chamal Rajapakse new Speaker, Fonseka attends parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 08:18 GMT]
The first session of the seventh parliament elected in the April 8 general election was inaugurated Thursday with all new parliamentarians were sworn in the morning. Eldest brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa was elected new Speaker of the parliament. Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka was brought to the parliament under tight security from the Sri Lanka Navy Headquarters where he is being detained since his arrest on February 8.

Chamal Rajapaksa's name was proposed by Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne and seconded by the Deputy Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Karu Jayasuriya. Chamal Rajapaksa was unanimously elected as the new Speaker in Parliament. He was holding the post of Minister of Ports and Shipping in the last UPFA government.

Former Deputy Speaker Priyankara Jayaratne was appointed as the Deputy Speaker. His name was proposed by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and seconded by John Amaratunga of the UNP. John Amaratunga has been appointed by the UNP as the Chief Opposition Whip.

Murugesu Chandrakumar, UPFA MP from Jaffna district was named as the Deputy Chairman of Committees. Murugesu Chandrakumar is a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Douglas Devananda and contested the Jaffna district on the Betel symbol of the UPFA.

Parliament was adjourned until May 4.