Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga,commonly referred to by her initials CBK,is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fourth executive president of Sri Lanka,from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. She previously served as the prime minister from August to November 1994 and the chief minister of the Western Province from 1993 to 1994. She is the country's first and only female president to date and the country's second female prime minister. She was the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) until the end of 2005.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who is the 9th and current President of Sri Lanka. He also holds several ministerial positions,including the Minister of Finance,Minister of Defence,Minister of Technology and Minister of Women,Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.
The United National Party is a centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party,or as part of its governing coalition,for 38 of the country's 74 years of independence,including the periods 1947–1956,1965–1970,1977–1994,2001–2004 and 2015–2019. The party also controlled the executive presidency from its formation in 1978 until 1994 and back in 2022.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015;the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005,2018,and 2019 to 2022;the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019,and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major and most well known political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951 and,since then,has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the predominant party in government on a number of occasions. The party is generally considered as having a democratic socialist or progressive economic agenda and is often associated with nationalist Sinhalese parties. The party follows a Non-Aligned foreign policy but always had close ties to socialist nations.
Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa,is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer,who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022 due to months of public anger. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite. He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.
Ajith Nivard Cabraal is a Sri Lankan accountant and politician who was also the 16th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He is also the former State Minister of Finance,Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms and a national list member of parliament since 12 August 2020. He served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka,holding the post from 1 July 2006 until his resignation on 9 January 2015. He again became the Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka in September 2021,replacing W. D. Lakshman,and resigned again in April 2022.
The Rajapaksa family is a Sri Lankan family that is prominent in politics. It was one of Sri Lanka's most powerful families during Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency,when many members of the family occupied senior positions in the Sri Lankan state. As their political power grew,there were reports suggesting that the country was heading towards autocracy under their rule. Following the unexpected defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 presidential election,they have been accused of authoritarianism,corruption,nepotism and bad governance. In the 2019 presidential election,Gotabaya Rajapaksa,the brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa,ran and won. The popularity of the Rajapaksa family collapsed after their actions caused the economic crisis that started in 2019,resulting in Sri Lanka defaulting on its debt for the first time in its post-independence history within just 30 months of coming to power. The extended Rajapaksa family is believed to have amassed a large amount of wealth and while the amount of and scale is unknown several members of the family have been revealed in international investigations such as the Pandora Papers to be using networks of shell companies and trusts to hide their wealth in offshore tax havens which has led to accusations of Rajapaksas turning Sri Lanka into a Kleptocracy
The Sri Lanka People's Front,commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP),is a political party in Sri Lanka. Previously a minor political party known as the Sri Lanka National Front (SLNF) and Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (OSLFF),it was relaunched in 2016 as the SLPP and became the home for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A constitutional crisis began in Sri Lanka when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president and member of parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 before formally dismissing the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe,resulting in two concurrent Prime Ministers. Wickremesinghe and the United National Party (UNP) viewed the appointment as illegal,and he refused to resign.
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 November 2019. The incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena's term of office would have ended on 9 January 2020. This was the first presidential election in Sri Lanka where no sitting president,prime minister or opposition leader ran for president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory,defeating his main opponent Sajith Premadasa.
In 2015 a coup d'état was allegedly attempted in Sri Lanka by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in order to remain in power after he had been voted out in the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election. Rajapaksa,who was expected to easily win a third term in office lost to Maithripala Sirisena,a former ally and member of the Rajapaksa administration. Though ultimately there was a peaceful transition between governments,some government officials claim Rajapaksa made an attempt to deploy the army and police to stop the counting of votes when initial results showed he was heading for defeat.
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka is the current Parliament of Sri Lanka,with the membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 5 years from the first meeting.
Mohamed Uvais Mohamed Ali Sabry,PC,MP,also known as Ali Sabry,is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the Current Minister of Foreign Affairs serving since 22 July 2022. He previously served as the Minister of Finance until 9 May 2022. He was a Member of Parliament,appointed from the national list of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He also served as the Minister of Justice until 9 May 2022. He served as the defense counsel of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,chief legal adviser and President of the Muslim Federation of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
The following lists notable events that took place during the year 2022 in Sri Lanka.
The 2022 Sri Lankan protests,commonly known as Aragalaya,were a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy,which led to a subsequent economic crisis involving severe inflation,daily blackouts,and a shortage of fuel,domestic gas,and other essential goods. The protesters' main demand was the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and key officials from the Rajapaksa family. Despite the involvement of several opposition parties,most protesters considered themselves to be apolitical,with many expressing discontent with the parliamentary opposition. Protesters chanted slogans such as "Go Home Gota","Go Home Rajapaksas",and "Aragalayata Jaya Wewa". Most protests were organized by the general public,with youths playing a major part by carrying out protests at Galle Face Green.
The 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis was a political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka. It was fueled by the anti-government protests and demonstrations by the public due to the economic crisis in the country. The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered a state of political instability that is unprecedented in the nation's history.
The Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya or Supreme Lanka Coalition is a political alliance in Sri Lanka formed in 2022. The coalition is made up of seven Sri Lankan leftist and nationalist parties who were formerly part of the SLPP-led Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance,before defecting to the opposition amidst the 2022 economic crisis and political crisis. The first conference of the alliance was held on 4 September,2022. Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) and former cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa is the chairman of the Supreme Lanka Coalition. The alliance has 15 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
The Freedom People's Alliance is a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded in 2023. The alliance consists of 12 political parties,including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SFLP),the Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya and the Freedom People's Congress.
