When Namal Rajapaksa’s phone rang in the evening, it was his father — former President Mahinda Rajapaksa — on the line. As Rajapaksa Sr asked him to contest for presidency, the 38-year-old lawmaker fell silent. It was then that his father conveyed to him that this was the decision of his party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) after the island nation’s richest person — Dhammika Perera — changed his mind about trying his luck in the presidential elections scheduled for September 21.
Namal agreed to take the challenge seriously. He is the third Rajapaksa to contest for the highest office on the island after his father Mahinda and uncle Gotabaya who have been presidents in the past. If he wins, Namal will be the third member from the powerful Rajapaksa family to head the Indian Ocean island nation in the last 19 years.
After the unrest of 2022, which forced both his father and uncle to quit as the prime minister and president, their party SLPP was forced to appoint their rival Ranil Wickremesinghe as the prime minister initially and as the president a few months later.
Sri Lanka has managed to overcome the economic crisis in record time and is on its way to recovery under the Wickremesinghe government.
Wickremesinghe, who is a wily politician with a proven track record, was hoping for the support of Rajapaksa in this election. But a section led by Namal and his uncle Basil refused to back him, triggering a mass exodus of their MPs from SLPP to Wickremesinghe’s side.
According to insiders, they were not comfortable with Perera contesting on the SLPP ticket.
Speaking about Namal’s candidature, Mahinda Rajapaksa said: “The Aragalaya asked for a young leader, so we have presented a young leader.”
The unexpected candidature of Namal has turned the election into a four-cornered contest. Besides Namal and Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition Sajith Premadasa and a Marxist party JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka are also in the fray, making it the most difficult election in the history of Sri Lanka.
Dissanayaka, who is popularly known as AKD, is hopeful of a win. He claims people are fed up with all established politicians of the country whom they hold responsible for the current situation. Premadasa, meanwhile, is banking on his image and anti-establishment votes to realise the dream.
Wickremesinghe feels that the people owe him something for bringing the country back to stability in record time.
Namal, who is the youngest, is facing an uphill battle as his party is facing an exodus and public indifference. According to insiders, Namal is not hoping to win the presidency in his first attempt and he knows odds are stacked against him.
To save the vote base of SLPP and prevent the exodus of MPs and other leaders, he has taken a gamble. His close friends and aides believe that it will help him in giving a good fight in the parliamentary elections due after the presidential election.
“If he wins 50-60 seats in the parliamentary elections, he can even become the prime minister in a coalition government or become leader of opposition party in Parliament. It will save his party, father’s legacy and ensure the future for him,” said a close friend.
Namal has been an MP since 2010. He has been a Cabinet minister in the past and he won the 2020 Parliament elections from family stronghold Hambantota district in the Deep South by a big margin.
Namal has studied law in England and Sri Lanka. An avid sportsman and fitness freak, he was also Sri Lanka’s national Rugby team captain. He is married to Limini Weerasinghe and they have two sons.
Popular among the youth and his father’s followers, Namal has recently replaced his controversial uncle Basil Rajapaksa as SLPP’s national organiser, the second-most important post in the party.
Most of his friends know that Namal did not want to contest in the Presidential elections before he turned at least 40. He had always maintained that he had a long career ahead and he would throw his hat in the ring in his mid-40s. But fate seems to have changed that, forcing him to try to his luck at just 38.
If he wins, it will be huge for the Rajapaksa family and his party. If he doesn’t, he will stay relevant in national politics.
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