Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Appointed: Harini Amarasuriya

• President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Harini Amarasuriya as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister.
• Amarasuriya, a former academic and MP, will lead a four-member Cabinet under him.
• Dissanayake, elected in the September 21 presidential polls, resigned as a Member of Parliament and was replaced by a National People’s Power (NPP) member.
• Amarasuriya will lead Ministries including Justice, Education, Health, and Trade.
• She is Sri Lanka’s third woman Prime Minister, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
• Amarasuriya holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hindu College, University of Delhi, a master’s in Australia, and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
• She has worked in the development sector, teaching sociology and anthropology, and was a prominent activist in the professional body of university teachers.
• Amarasuriya has co-authored a book, an oral history of dissent and dissidents in Sri Lanka between the 1960s and 1990s.