Sri Lanka's newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks during the parliament session in Colombo, Sri Lanka November 15, 2018.  REUTERS/Stringer

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s president has rejected a second no-confidence motion passed on Friday against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed late last month in place of Ranil Wickremesinghe, a loyalist lawmaker said. 

Maithripala Sirisena will also not reappoint Wickremesinghe to the post, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, from Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, said. 

“The president rejected today’s no confidence (vote)... He also told us to show our majority in (parliament) in the next few days,” Abeywardene told reporters after meeting Sirisena.