Sri Lanka?s cabinet could be sworn in today with President Chandrika Kumaratunga likely to keep top posts for herself, and with deal-making still under way after Friday?s vote left her party shy of a majority.

Kumaratunga, who as executive president was not up for re-election, sacked the defence minister last November and has held the post since. Sources said on Wednesday she was likely to keep it and to take over as finance minister too. ?They are sorting out the ministry allocations now. What is important is to get the right secretaries,? said one presidential aide.

New Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said Kumaratunga would also take charge of the peace process to end a 20-year civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels, but the faces in the new cabinet could also give hints on a future negotiating team.

A two-year ceasefire remains in place, but direct talks with the rebels broke down last April and restarting them will be the new government?s foremost challenge -- a task complicated by the election of an ethnically polarised parliament.

Former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar ? a Tamil who is a hardline foe of the Tigers ? was expected to take up his old post after being narrowly edged out of the prime minister?s job, and was likely to be involved in strategy for the peace process. Kumaratunga?s United People?s Freedom Alliance was also scrambling to try to secure allies after the election left it eight seats short of a majority in the 225-seat parliament.

The Ceylon Workers Congress, which represents Indian-origin Tamils in the island?s tea plantations, has the eight seats the party needs, but its leader is for now remaining non-committal, telling a news conference: ?All options are open?.

Attention also fell on the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, which has five seats. Its leader Rauff Hakeem was part of the outgoing government?s negotiating team with the Tigers. Both parties voted with then-prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe?s United National Party in the last government, but promises of cabinet posts could entice them to shift allegiance.

?Everybody?s talking, but I think in the next few weeks it will all pan out, definitely before the 22nd,? said a source close to the president, referring to April 22 when parliament opens. An all-clergy party of Buddhist monks won nine seats, and has said it could vote with the government on certain issues, but would not consider a formal alliance. Four ministries ? agriculture, fisheries, rural economy and culture ? are likely to go to the People?s Liberation Front, a Marxist coalition partner in the Freedom Alliance.