Political Milestones

1967
Took over as the SLFP candidate for Beliatta after his father’s demise.

1970
In 1970 he entered Parliament from the Beliatte constituency as the youngest MP at the tender age of 24 with a record lead of 6626 votes.

1973
In 1973 he entered Sri Lanka Law College. He was instrumental in forming the SLFP Lawyers' Association.

1985
Following the by-election in Mulkirigala which made the exercise of franchise a mockery in the face of unprecedented terror unleashed upon the Opposition by the UNP regime, Mahinda Rajapaksa was taken into custody as a political prisoner and imprisoned at the Magazine Prison in 1985. He spent more than three months in prison under trying circumstances. His mother died while he was in prison and was thus unable to fulfill her last wish to see her beloved son.

1988/89
A crusader of Human Rights, Mahinda Rajapaksa fought against the thousands of involuntary disappearances during the 1988-1989 period of terror. He complained against the gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the international human rights organizations including the Geneva Conference for Human Rights.

1992
On March 16, 1992, Mahinda Rajapaksa launched the Pada Yathra (a protest march) against State-terrorism of the Premadasa regime and its political oppression.

The historic mass march similar to those launched by freedom fighters such as Mao and Mahatma Gandhi commenced at Viharamahadevi Park and reached its destination the sacred city of Kataragama in eight days.

1994
In 1994 he was appointed as Minister of Labour and Vocational Training.

Among his achievements as Minister of Labour are the drafting of the Workers' Charter, establishment of the Vocational Training Authority, setting up Rural Vocational Training Centres and the acquisition of Hambantota Lunu Levaya (Saltern) by Employee Trust Fund.

• Initiated a housing programme called Deewara Gammana for fishermen and their families.
• Initiated the first ever University for Oceanography known as Sagara Vishwa Vidyalaya.
• Introduced a special banking scheme called "Idiwara Banks" for fishermen established a Coastal Guard Unit, a much needed security system for an island nation, to stop illegal fishing activities and protect the coast of Sri Lanka.
• Provided fisheries communication equipment to improve efficiency through the use of technology.
• In addition to the portfolio of Fisheries, he also held the portfolio of Ports and Shipping for a short period of three months. Within this period, he took initial steps to construct the Hambantota harbour.

1999
On October 4, 1999, he delivered a lecture under the title of "Involuntary Disappearances" at the Dehra Doon Human Rights Organisation in India.

In the Opposition, he became a campaigner for Human Rights and together with Manorani Saravanamuttu of Mother's Front, he launched a campaign to highlight the plight of the disappeared.

He was conferred the title of Professor Emeritus by the Vishva Bharati University of Calcutta in recognition of his record on human rights.

2002
Mahinda Rajapaksa became the Leader of the Opposition after the UNP won the general election.

2004
On April 06,2004, Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. As PM he initiated a number of development projects including Maga Neguma and proposed and constructed "fly-overs" in Colombo to reduce traffic congestions.

2005
He became the 5th Executive President on November 19, 2005.

2008
Mahinda Rajapaksa became the current chairman of the South Asia Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC).

2009
In May 2009 he announced proudly to the world that his country was the first to comprehensively defeat terrorism and thereby fulfilling the most daunting of tasks in the first decade of the 21st Century.