Lakshman Kadirgamar - Political Career

Political Career

Although he had never been actively involved in politics before, and had never even addressed a political rally, he was selected as national list MP in 1994 on the People's Alliance (PA) list for the General Elections. Following the victory of the PA, he was appointed Foreign Minister in the PA government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. He held the post till 2001, playing a significant role in having the LTTE banned internationally. The United States and the United Kingdom proscribed the LTTE on 8 October 1997 and 28 February 2001 respectively, thereby depriving that organization of a primary source of funding.

Widely respected in his role as foreign minister, he was elected Vice-chairman (1997–99) and later Chairman (2003–05) of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). In 1998-2001 he was Chair of the Council of Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). From 1999 onwards he was also a Chair of the South Asia Foundation (SAF), a non-governmental organisation.

After the defeat of the government in 2001, he became special adviser on foreign affairs to President Kumaratunga. Despite being a Tamil, he became critical of the attempts to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers insurgents in northern Sri Lanka, and of the Ceasefire Agreement concluded on 22 February 2002 between the government and the Tamil Tigers. He criticisms of this agreement, and of the Norwegian mediation effort in Sri Lanka, were most cogently expressed in his speech from the opposition in the parliament in Colombo on 8 May 2003.

On 20 November 2003, Kadirgamar declared his candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations. He stood with the support of South Africa, which was critical of incumbent Don McKinnon's opposition to Zimbabwean involvement in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2003, at which Zimbabwe withdrew from the organisation. In doing so, Kadirgamar broke the convention of not challenging incumbents for the position, which is usually appointed by consensus. However, at the vote, held in early December, he was defeated by the New Zealander, with 11 members voting for him against 40 for McKinnon.

Following the victory of the United People's Freedom Alliance in the April 2, 2004 Sri Lankan legislative elections, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, but on April 6 President Kumaratunga appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa to the post. Four days later, however, he was appointed foreign minister again in the new cabinet.