Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's prime minister for the sixth time on Thursday, though the veteran politician has never completed a full term in office.
The 73-year-old's political career appeared to be drawing to a close before this week, when he agreed to helm a unity administration and help steer the South Asian island nation through a crippling economic crisis.
"This is a historic event," Tamil legislator Dharmalingam Sithadthan told AFP in reference to Wickremesinghe's latest return to the top office.
"This shows the desperate situation in our country."
Wickremesinghe is the sole parliamentary representative of the United National Party, a once-powerful political force that was nearly wiped out in Sri Lanka's last elections.
The former lawyer hails from a political family and his uncle Junius Jayewardene served as president for more than a decade.
He was first appointed premier in 1993 after the assassination of then-president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in a bomb attack by Tamil Tiger guerrillas during Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war.
Wickremesinghe's first term in office lasted little more than a year.
He returned to power in 2001, earning a reputation for sound economic management after steering the country out of recession.
Conflict with the president saw him sacked before his term was over, and he spent the next decade in the political wilderness.