Diana Gamage | |
---|---|
ඩයනා ගමගේ டயனா கமகே | |
Member of Parliament for National List Voided | |
In office 20 August 2020 –08 May 2024 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Diana Samanmali Gamage 18 Dec 1965 |
Citizenship | British |
Nationality | Sri Lankan |
Political party | Samagi Jana Balawegaya till 2021 |
Other political affiliations | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna From 2021 |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Former Member of Parliament, Businesswoman |
Diana Gamage (born 18 December 1965) is a Sri Lankan politician and businesswoman. She was a former State Minister of Tourism and Member of Parliament.
Gamage was appointed to the Parliament of Sri Lanka from the National List of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya following the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. [1] She was one of only 12 Women Parliamentarians to represent that legislature. [2] In 2021 she switched her political affiliation to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, then the ruling party of Sri Lanka. [3]
Her right to serve in Parliament was challenged by a Writ petition filed by the social media activist Oshala Herath who had unsuccessfully contested the 2020 parliamentary election from the United National Party, on the basis that Gamage held British citizenship. Herath had claimed that Gamage had gained British citizenship in 1998 and not gained dual Sri Lankan citizenship, while Gamage claimed that she had renounced her British citizenship in 2014. The Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka set aside Herath's petition in 2023. On 8 May 2024, following an appeal to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, the court set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal and disqualified Gamage from holding a seat in Parliament [4] on the basis that she did not hold valid citizenship of the country, since she failed to submit a certificate of citizenship and found that she had returned to Sri Lanka on a British passport. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya party named Mujibur Rahman as her replacement. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Sri Lanka is a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Sri Lanka elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. Sri Lanka has a multi-party system, with two dominant political parties. All elections are administered by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.
In Sri Lanka, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not a part of the government. This is usually the leader of the second-largest party in Parliament.
Sajith Premadasa is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District. He is the current leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and a former government minister. He served as Mayor of Colombo between 1974 and 1977. Fowzie was a parliament member from 1996, representing the United National Party, but later joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
Kumara Welgama was a Sri Lankan politician who served as a Member of Parliament for the Kalutara District between 1994 and 2024. Welgama had been a minister of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the past from 2020, to his death in 2024 he was the leader of the New Lanka Freedom Party and contested elections with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
A national list member of parliament is a nominated member of parliament who is appointed by a political party or an independent group to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The number of national list MPs allocated to a contesting party or an independent group depends on the proportion to their share of the national vote. A total of 29 national list MPs are appointed alongside 196 elected MPs making a total of 225 members in the parliament.
Manusha Nanayakkara is a Sri Lankan politician, Cabinet Minister, and member of Parliament for the Galle District. He is a journalist by profession and was educated at Mahinda College, Galle. He was appointed as the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment on the 20 May 2022.
Ashoka Abeysinghe is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He belongs to the United National Party. He was the first mayor of Kurunegala from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and later joined the United National Party. He was appointed the Deputy Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation after United National Party won the 2015 general elections.
Harin Fernando, MP is a Sri Lankan politician, Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament. He is the former Minister of Tourism and Lands as well as the former Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. He previously served as the Minister of Sports before, as well as the Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure Facilities, Foreign Employment, and Tourism ministers in previous Sri Lankan governments. He was the 7th Chief Minister of Uva Province.
Imthiaz Bakeer Markar (Sinhala: ඉම්තියාස් බාකීර් මාකාර් is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is a Member of Parliament from the National List of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, he was a former Cabinet Minister of Media, Postal and Telecommunications from 2001 to 2004; State Minister of Housing from 1989 to 1993 and member of the parliament from the Kalutara District from 1989 to 2004. Bakeer Markar had served as the former chairman of the National Media Centre and the former vice president of the United National Party.
Rajakaruna Mohotti Appuhamillage Harshana Supun Rajakaruna is a Sri Lankan politician. He is a Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament from the United National Party and a former member of the Western Provincial Council.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya is a political alliance led by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. It is the largest opposition coalition in the Parliament of Sri Lanka since 2020.
The National People's Power (NPP) or Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Sri Lanka. It is the current ruling party of Sri Lanka, having won the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, and is currently the largest party in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the current leader of the party and Nihal Abeysinghe is the general secretary.
A. H. M. Ashoka Premlal Wadigamangawa also spelt as Asoka Wadigamangawa was a Sri Lankan politician and parliamentarian. He represented the United National Party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party and United People's Freedom Alliance during his political career.
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka was the meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka with its membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. The parliament met for the first time on 20 August 2020 and was dissolved on 24 September 2024.
Wijesinghe Herath Mudiyanselage Dharmasena is a Sri Lankan politician, former provincial councillor and Member of Parliament.
Hiranya Deepthi Dulanjani Menike Herath Ranaweera commonly known as Hiranya Herath is an Attorney at Law and a politician in the district of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. She is the only child of the late Renuka Herath a prominent politician and former Health Minister of Sri Lanka. Hiranya Herath was appointed as the UNP organizer of the Walapane electorate in November 2017. Since 2018 she is the opposition leader of the Walapane Pradeshiya Sabha.
The 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed on 22 October 2020 by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament. 156 voted in favor, 65 voted against and four abstained from the vote.