The Rajapaksas: who are Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty?

TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2013
Sri Lanka's ruling family are mingling with the Commonwealth's elite as they host this week's summit in Colombo. Yet some of them have been accused of war crimes. So who are the Rajapaksas?

Above: the Rajapaksa brothers (left to right: Basil, Gotabaya, Mahinda, Chamal)

President Rajapaksa has been president of Sri Lanka since 2005, having been elected with just over half the country's votes. Since then his popularity has grown, largely due to the fact that, within four years of having come to power, he had ended the Sri Lankan civil war and had crushed the Tamil Tigers movement.

In 2010, President Rajapaksa secured just shy of 58 per cent of the vote. Since then the Sri Lankan parliament has voted for changes to the constitution which will allow the president to stand for a third term - something that has raised concerns from, among others, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, of growing authoritarianism from charities and the government's critics.

Above: President Rajapaksa questioned on human rights by Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 News

Family ties

It is not just Mahinda who benefits from the popularity of the Rajapaksa brand - in total 29 members of Rajapaksa's extended family hold senior positions within the government, civil service, media and industry, the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice says.

According to the group, President Rajapaksa and two of his brothers, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Minister of Economic Development Basil Gotabaya, control at least 45 per cent of Sri Lanka's budget, and manage five government ministries.

Another brother, Chamal Rajapaksa, is the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament. The Rajapaksa family has largely been elected into the positions they hold.

Home investment

And it is not just the family that has been helped by the president's rise to power. His home town, Hambantota, will be host to the Commonwealth Youth Forum.