New Parliament composition a ‘not-so-strange’ mix

• Two ex-Presidents
• Four father-son combinations and many relatives
• One convicted murderer, one murder suspect, and several others on wrong side of law
• An actor making a comeback having being unseated in an election petition

By Chandani Kirinde

The new Parliament will have an interesting mix of Parliamentarians, including two former Presidents, four father-son combinations, a man convicted of murder, and several against whom court cases are pending.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa will sit alongside his one-time arch political rival Maithripala Sirisena on the same side of the House when the new Parliament convenes on 20 August.

There are also four father-son combinations, namely Mahinda and Namal Rajapaksa, Chamal and Shashendra Rajapaksa, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and his son Pramitha, all selected from the SLPP. 

Dinesh Gunawardena, who won a seat from the Colombo district, will be joined in Parliament by his son Yadamini Gunawardena, who was appointed from the SLPP’s national list.

Premalal Jayasekera, who was handed a death sentence by the Ratnapura High Court days before the poll and was elected, will be joining Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, who is in remand prison for his alleged involvement in the murder of Joseph Pararajasingham, and elected from the Batticaloa district. They will take oaths when the House convenes.

Film-actor-turned-politician Ranjan Ramanayake, who was at the centre of a controversy involving taped telephone conversation and against who a case is pending before the Nugegoda Magistrate Court, won a seat from the Gampaha district from the SBJ.

He is among several elected MPs who have been on the wrong side of the law.

Another actor, Geetha Kumarasinghe, who lost her seat after a brief stint in the last Parliament following a Court decision when it was proven she was a dual citizen and failed to declare this fact, will return to the House, re-elected from the Galle district. She has renounced her dual citizenship now.

Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who won his seat from the Ratnapura district, will be joined in the new Parliament by former Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran, who won a seat from the newly formed alliance in the Jaffa district. The two are related through marriage with Nanayakkara’s daughter married to the latter’s son.