The three Rajapaksas resigned from their Cabinet posts in April, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down Monday, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has not been seen recently outside his heavily guarded compound. On Thursday he appointed a new prime minister, who is not a relative. Mahinda then sought unsuccessfully to become prime minister. Amid a wave of Buddhist nationalism and allegations that the Sirisena government had not acted on intelligence information, Gotabaya Rajapaksa swept to power in a landslide later that year. “His constituency has turned against him, and therefore he has no real power base left in the country,” he said.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 14, 2022 04:53 UTC