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.
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital of Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the supreme legislative body of Sri Lanka. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the island. It is modeled after the British Parliament. The 17th Parliament of Sri Lanka will convened on 21 November 2024.
Dinesh Chandra Rupasinghe Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He also held the positions of Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government. Gunawardena has been leader of the left-wing Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) party since 1983, was briefly the de facto leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna from 2022 to 2023, and has taken cabinet positions under several previous governments, including Leader of the House from 2020 until 2022.
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.
The Speaker of the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the presiding officer of the chamber. The Speaker fulfills a number of important functions in relation to the operation of the House, which is based upon the British Westminster parliamentary system. The speaker is second in the Sri Lankan presidential line of succession, after the prime minister.
Amirthanathan Adaikalanathan, commonly known as Selvam Adaikalanathan, is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and Member of Parliament. He was the Deputy chairman of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from September 2015 to March 2020. He is the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization, a member of the Tamil National Alliance.
Thalatha Atukorale is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Atukorale was appointed as the cabinet minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare by President Maithripala Sirisena on 12 January 2015. She was given the additional duties of Minister of Justice on 25 August 2017, becoming the first woman to hold that position in Sri Lanka. She is the sister of Gamini Atukorale, former minister and assistant leader of the United National Party.
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.
Chamal Jayantha Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician who was Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Ports and Aviation and the Minister for Irrigation and Water Management.
Basil Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
Lakshman Pinto Jayatilaka Senewiratne is a Sri Lankan politician, former State Minister of Science, Technology and Research and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka representing the Badulla District. and former Cabinet Minister of Sugar Industries, His father C. P. J. Senewiratne was an MP for Mahiyangana electorate and former Cabinet Minister of Labour in the government of J.R. Jayewardene.
Janaka Bandara Tennakoon is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and a former Cabinet Minister. He was educated at Dharmaraja College, Kandy. He contested as the Group Leader of the Matale District of the Central Province and was elected to the Provincial Council with a majority of Proportional Votes in 1993; Elected as a Member of Parliament with a majority of proportional votes in the General Election of 1994; Elected as a Member of Parliament from the District of Matale with the majority of proportional votes in the general election of 2000. He also previously served as the Minister of Lands and Land Development and Minister of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government.
Ganepola Arachchige Duleep Pandula Perera Wijesekera is a Sri Lankan politician. He is a member of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and member of the Sri-Lankan parliament for the Gampaha District since 2004. He was the Deputy Minister of Disaster Management in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
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.
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, who is the constitutional chief executive. The Cabinet is collectively held accountable to parliament for their policies and actions. The powers and functions of the Prime Minister has changed several times since the creation of the office in 1947.
In Sri Lanka a Member of Parliament (MP), is the title given to any one of the 225 individuals elected or appointed to serve in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
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.
Vela Thanthiri Gurunnanselage Karunaratne was a Ceylonese actor and politician, member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and cabinet minister.
