Ranil Wickremesinghe MP is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and has served as Leader of the United National Party since 12 November 1994. He was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Biyagama in 1977.
Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician serving as Leader of the Opposition since 2018, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015. He served as the President of Sri Lanka and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party from 2005 to 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 Sinhala parties. The party follows a Non-Aligned foreign policy but always had close ties to socialist nations.The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is a main constituent party in the United People's Freedom Alliance.
The United National Front(UNF) later the United National Front for Good Governance(UNFGG) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka formed by the United National Party, the alliance currently represents 7 parties including the largest Muslim party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Sinhala Nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya. The UNF is current governing party in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. A new UNP led alliance, the National Democratic Front (NDF) is in the process of being formed for future elections.
The Sri Lankan presidential election of 2005 was the fifth presidential election of Sri Lanka. Nominations were accepted on 7 September 2005, and the election was held on 17 November 2005. Electoral participation was 73.73%. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa of the governing United People's Freedom Alliance was elected, receiving 50.3% of all votes cast.
Iruresa is a Sinhala language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Lithira Publications (Private) Limited, part of Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are The Sunday Leader and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge, the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage.
Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician, the seventh and current President of Sri Lanka, in office since January 2015. 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.
Basil Rohana Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician and was a member of parliament from 2007 to 2015.During the period of 2005–2010 he served as a presidential senior advisor for then President Mahinda Rajapaksa and in 2007 he was appointed as a member of parliament from the national list. He was the Cabinet minister for Economic Development in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second term (2010–2015). In the 2010 parliamentary election he was elected from Gampaha district by obtaining the highest number of preferential votes in Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium better known as Sooriyawewa International Cricket Stadium, and abbreviately as MRIC Stadium, is an international cricket stadium in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. It was built for the 2011 Cricket World Cup and hosted two matches, the first being Sri Lanka against Canada, on 20 February 2011. The stadium has a capacity of 35,000 people making It the second largest stadium in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan presidential election of 2010 was the sixth presidential election of Sri Lanka. The election was announced on 23 November 2009 when incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to seek a fresh mandate prior to the expiration of his term in 2011. Nominations were accepted on 17 December 2009, and the election was held on 26 January 2010.
Hambantota electoral district is one of the 22 multi-member electoral districts of Sri Lanka created by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. The district is conterminous with the administrative district of Hambantota in the Southern province. The district currently elects 7 of the 225 members of the Sri Lankan Parliament and had 421,186 registered electors in 2010.
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, where many members of the family occupied their 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.
The 2012 H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa Under-23 International Football Trophy Final was a football match at the Jayathilake Sports Complex, Nawalapitiya on 9 December 2012, to determine the winner of the 2012 H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa Under-23 International Football Trophy. It was the first H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa Under-23 International Football Trophy final. The match was contested by the Maldives and Pakistan.
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule. The incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate, seeking a third term in office. The United National Party (UNP)-led opposition coalition chose to field Maithripala Sirisena, the former Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – the main constituent party of the UPFA – as its common candidate.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan sportsmen and former naval officer. He is the son of the sixth President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy and an aide-de-camp to the President.He is one of the owners of Carlton Sports Network one of the several organizations such as Carlton Pre school and Carlton rugby named after the Carlton House of the Rajapaksa. and was a former captain of the Sri Lanka national rugby union team and the Navy SC rugby team. On January 30, 2016, Yoshitha Rajapaksa and several senior executives of the Carlton Sports Network Channel were remanded by the Kaduwela Magistrate on charges of financial crimes including alleged charges on money laundering.
The 2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election was held on 17 August 2015, ten months ahead of schedule, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 15th Parliament.
The Sri Lanka People's Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a Sri Lankan political front. Previously a minor political party known as the Sri Lanka National Front (SLNF) and Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (OSLFF), it was relaunched 2016 as the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and became the home for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. The front's chairman is G. L. Peiris and its secretary is Sagara Kariyawasam.
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.
