Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa to contest Sri Lankan Presidential polls
Sri Lanka’s ruling party nominated 38-year-old Namal Rajapaksa, scion of Rajapaksa family on Wednesday to challenge the incumbent President in September 21 polls, the first since the country’s unprecedented economic meltdown. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa headed the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party and named his son Namal Rajapaksa as its candidate at a Buddhist ceremony at their party office in the capital Colombo.
Namal was a former Sports Minister under his father Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Presidency, which ended in January 2015. His uncle, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, also won the Presidency in November 2019but was forced out during the economic crisis in 2022.
Namal Rajapaksa, 38, is the youngest candidate in this election. If won, he would emerge as the youngest president of Sri Lanka. He graduated with a Law degree from City University London. He later joined Sri Lanka Law College to qualify as an attorney in law. Namal married Limini Weerasinghe in 2019 and has two children.
Namal contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the United People’s Freedom Alliance’s candidates in Hambantota District and was elected to Parliament. Mahinda was an MP from Hambantota for 16 years before becoming President in 2005.
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