COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The man who is considered the heir apparent to the powerful Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka will contest the presidential election in September, his political party said Wednesday, in an apparent bid to regain his family's lost power after a humiliating setback two years ago during an unprecedented economic crisis in the Indian ocean island nation.
The Sri Lanka People's Front said the 38-year-old lawyer Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be its candidate in the Sept. 21 election, the first since the nation plunged into its worst economic crisis.
The election is seen as key to Sri Lanka's efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and completing the financial reforms agreed to under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.
The nominations for polling will be accepted on Aug. 15.
The Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, producing a dozen lawmakers from three generations spanning seven decades. Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled as president from 2005 to 2015, appealing to the nationalist sentiment of the island’s Buddhist-Sinhalese majority.
Rajapaksa is revered by that majority for leading Sri Lanka to victory over ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 26-year civil war.
In 2015, he lost to the opposition led by his former aide. But the family made a comeback in 2019, when Rajapaksa's younger brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, won the presidential election on a promise to restore security in the wake of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 290 people.
But the Rajapaksa family lost power unexpectedly in 2022 when Sri Lanka was engulfed in its worst economic crisis that was largely caused by mismanagement and lack of accountability.
The resulting shortages of essential goods sparked riots in 2022, leading to a political crisis that forced four Rajapaksa siblings and two of their sons, including Namal, to resign from their posts as president, prime minister and cabinet ministers. Namal Rajapaksa had been minister of youth and sports. But they remained as lawmakers.
Parliament elected then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president.
The economic situation has improved under Wickremesinghe. But public dissatisfaction has grown over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses as part of efforts to meet the conditions of the IMF, which approved a four-year bailout program in March.
Wickremesinghe has announced he will run in the September election, while main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle.
It’s not clear whether Rajapaksa would be able to win the election, as his Sri Lanka People's Front is already split with some lawmakers having pledged support to Wickremesinghe.
Wickremesinghe’s party has only one seat in the 225-majority parliament, and he has been ruling with the support of lawmakers from the Rajapaksas' party.
FILE -Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa sits for photographs, with his lawmaker son Namal by his side, following his election victory in the general election at his residence in Tangalle, Sri Lanka, Aug. 7, 2020. T (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Drake Callender is the answer to a pretty strong trivia question.
Years from now, it’s likely that some folks — when guessing who scored the goal that gave Inter Miami its first-ever trophy in the summer of 2023 — will choose Lionel Messi, for obvious reasons. The greatest player of his generation, probably the greatest player ever, would be the logical pick.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Messi.
“I did what had to be done,” Callender said.
Indeed, it was Inter Miami’s goalie — in the 11th round of a penalty-shot shootout — who scored what became the winner of that Leagues Cup final last year against Nashville SC. He scored, then saved Nashville goalie Elliot Panicco's attempt to tie the game and extend the shootout to finish off the win. It’s a moment that forever will live in Inter Miami lore.
It's also a reminder that in big moments, Callender is already proven. Major League Soccer's playoffs start in about a month-and-a-half, and Callender — the go-to goalie for the best team in the league right now — can’t help but think about what it’s going to be like to challenge for the next trophy. The MLS Cup is very much on his mind, and with the way Inter Miami is playing and with Messi now back after a two-month absence because of an ankle injury, everything is looking good in his world.
“I think anytime you have opportunity to win a trophy and you do win that trophy, it makes you believe," Callender said. “Now we know we can. We all believe and know we can win games, but part of playing the game is finding out if you can win trophies. And the group knows we can do this.”
It has been, to this point, the best season of Callender's career. The goalie who turns 27 next month not only is the backstop for the best team in MLS but also has set a career-high for wins (19, against three losses and five ties), has tied a career best with five shutouts in MLS play this year and has the best goals-per-90-minutes average of his career at 1.37.
Put another way, the highest-scoring team in MLS — with Messi and Luis Suarez leading the way there — has one of the best goalies in MLS. It's obviously a winning combination, as proven by how Inter Miami had a 10-point lead over Cincinnati in the Eastern Conference standings entering Sunday and a seven-point lead in the league's overall standings over the LA Galaxy with a match in hand.
Inter Miami defender Julian Gressel had a simple way to describe Callender's secret. “Resiliency,” Gressel said.
And that was on display Saturday.
Inter Miami surrendered a goal to the Philadelphia Union less than two minutes into the contest. Maybe Callender was sleep-deprived; he and his wife became parents for the first time a few days earlier. But with the match on the line, Callender was locked in — with Inter Miami protecting a 2-1 lead in the 85th minute, Sergio Busquets inexplicably lost control of the ball near the goal mouth. Callender made a point-blank stop to preserve the lead and Inter Miami would add a late goal to win 3-1.
“He’s bouncing back and gone through a lot the last few days, obviously,” Gressel said. "It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind for him but awesome to see him kind of step in like that and come up big when we need him. And that’s what he’s done for the whole season. I’m really happy for him.”
It's hard not to be happy for Callender, who always seems to be one of the team's happiest players.
When Messi arrived and joined Inter Miami in the summer of 2023, everything for everyone involved with the club immediately changed — Callender included. It's a huge deal when Inter Miami plays now, which means more fans, more attention and more pressure.
“I’m good at blocking out the world," Callender said. “All the noise and all the haters and the doubters and the media, sometimes it fuels me and sometimes I need a break from it. But it takes time to adjust to all the changes. I mean, I was watching this guy in Champions League a few years ago, and now I’m playing on the same team with him.”
Inter Miami didn't get to the playoffs last year. Injuries took a toll and even Messi's arrival wasn't enough to pull the team from the bottom tier of the MLS standings. This season, not only will Inter Miami make the playoffs, it will be favored to win it all.
And that means another trophy moment may await the team's goalie.
“Getting to the playoffs was one goal of ours,” Callender said. “But it's just one step toward the big goal.”
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Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender prepares to work out at the MLS soccer team's training facility, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender (1) is unable to catch a goal by Philadelphia Union forward Mikael Uhre (7) during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender (1) deflects a corner kick during the first half of an MLS soccer match against the Philadelphia Union, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
