President Mahinda Rajapaksa celebrates his 68th birthday yesterday (Nov. 18).
it was also marks the third year he swore in as President for his second term in office.
The day dawns as the President is also appointed the chairman of the Commonwealth.
He is the 6th President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
Following the death of his father in 1967, Rajapaksa took over as the SLFP candidate for Beliatta constituency and was elected to Parliament in 1970 as the youngest Member of Parliament at just 24
A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and served as Prime Minister from 6 April 2004 until his victory in the 2005 Presidential election.
He was sworn in for a six-year term as president on 19 November 2005. He was re-elected for a second term in office on 27 January 2010.
Earlier, while her was in the opposition while the UNP regime was in power, he came into prominence as a leader and as a staunch defender of Human Rights, together with Manorani Saravanamuttu and Mangala Samaraweera of the Mothers Front, which organised the mothers of the "disappeared" in the white terror of 1988–90.
In 1994, following the election victory of the People's Alliance a political front led by Sri Lanka Freedom Party and headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga, Rajapaksa was appointed Minister of Labour.
He held this post until 1997 when, following a cabinet reshuffle, his portfolio was changed to Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
When the UNP defeated the People's Alliance in the 2001 elections, Rajapaksa lost his position in the Government. He was however appointed as Leader of the Opposition in March 2002.
After the Parliamentary Elections of 2004, in which the United People's Freedom Alliance gained a slim majority in Parliament, Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 13th Prime Minister on 6 April 2004.
He saved the country and ended 30 years of war with LTTE terrorists.
While Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister, he also held the Ministry of Highways.
We OUR LANKA team wish him all the best and hope that he will make policies and points of Commonwealth charter a reality in Sri Lanka as Chairman of the collective.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa cut his Birthday Cake during the CHOGM final Executive Session held yesterday (18).
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