COLOMBO - A lifetime's ambition was fulfilled Friday when Sri Lanka's six-times prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was finally sworn in as president.
He is only head of state in an acting capacity after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned in disgrace after fleeing to Singapore, but the position is one Wickremesinghe has sought for decades. A few families have long dominated politics in the Indian Ocean island nation, and Wickremesinghe is the nephew of one its longest-serving leaders, Junius Jayewardene, who was in power for 12 years until stepping down in 1989.
Dubbed the "old fox", Jayewardene was renowned for his cunning, but his nephew is regarded as an even shrewder navigator of the country's internecine power networks. It was Jayewardene who brought him into politics by making him a deputy foreign affairs minister in 1977. Commentators joked the initials of their United National Party (UNP) actually stood for Uncle and Nephew.
Family members say that Jayewardene, who died in 1996, had wanted to ensure that Wickremesinghe becomes president "even for one day".
Now he will hold the position for at least six days, with parliament due to elect Rajapaksa's long-term successor on Wednesday -- although Friday's swearing-in means Wickremesinghe maintains his record of never having fulfilled a full term as prime minister.
