President celebrates 40 years in politics

President Mahinda Rajapaksa celebrated 40 years in politics last week. He entered Parliament as the youngest parliamentarian with a majority of 6,626 votes representing the Beliatta seat at the 1970 parliamentary election.

He contested from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and secured 23,103 votes defeating Dr. R.K.P. Atapattu of the United National Party (UNP).