Mahinda Rajapaksa
Percy Mahendra Mahinda Rajapaksa, MP , pronounced160 , Tamil bornNovember 1945 is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka fromNovember 2005 toJanuary 2015. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and he served as Prime Minister fromApril 2004 until his victory in the 2005 presidential election. He was sworn in for his first sixyear term as President onNovember 2005. He was reelected for a second term onJanuary 2010. He was defeated in his bid for a third term in the 2015 presidential election by Maithripala Sirisena and left office onJanuary 2015.
Mahinda Rajapaksa was born in Weeraketiya in the southern rural district of Hambantota. He hails from a well known political family in Sri Lanka. His father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was a prominent politician, independence agitator, Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda Dahanayakes government. D. M. Rajapaksa, his uncle, was a State Councillor for Hambantota in the 1930s who started wearing the earthy brown shawl to represent kurakkan cultivated by the people of his area, whose cause he championed throughout his life. It is from his example that Rajapaksa wears his characteristic shawl.
Source: Wikipedia