Mahinda Rajapaksa appoints brother as speaker of Lankan Parliament

Chamal Rajapaksa, the brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was today sworn-in as the new speaker of Parliament which met here for the first time after the elections won by the ruling party.
   
Chamal was earlier the ports and aviation minister. Priyankara Jayaratna was named as deputy speaker.
   
Detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka, who unsuccessfully challenged president Rajapaksa in presidential elections in January, also attended the opening session.
   
He was driven in under tight security.
   
Fonseka, who is heading the seven member Democratic National Alliance, was elected from Colombo district. He is facing two courts martial for his alleged illegal arms deal and other charges.
   
The new 225-member Parliament was also sworn in this morning.
   
The seventh parliament consists of 144 members of the ruling UPFA, 60 of the main Opposition United National Party, 14 of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance and 7 of the Marxist dominated DNA.