Leader of the Opposition (Sri Lanka)

Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka
ශ්‍රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක
இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர்
Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka; ශ්‍රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක; இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர்
	Emblem of Sri Lanka
	Flag of Sri Lanka
	Incumbent; Sajith Premadasa ; since 3 January 2020
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Parliament of Sri Lanka
Term length	While leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government
Inaugural holder	N. M. Perera
Formation	14 October 1947

Last updated April 13, 2026

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.

Privileges of office

Salary

In 2016, the leader of the opposition received a salary month and other entitlements of a Member of Parliament.^[3]

Other privileges

The leader of the opposition is entitled to an official residence, office, transport and security equal that of a Cabinet Minister.^[4]^[5]

Order of precedence

In the Sri Lankan order of precedence, the leader of the opposition is ranked at the level of a Cabinet Minister in the order of precedence.

List of leaders of the opposition

Parties

Lanka Sama Samaja Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party United National Party Tamil United Liberation Front Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Samagi Jana Balawegaya

No. (Terms)		Opposition Leader		Political party	Term of office			Government
No. (Terms)		Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Political party	Took office	Left office	Days	Government
1			N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979)	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	14 October 1947	8 April 1952	1638	D. S. Senanayake	1st
1			N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979)	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	14 October 1947	8 April 1952	1638	Dudley Senanayake I	1st
	Office vacant				8 April 1952	9 June 1952	62		–
2			S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike එස්. ඩබ්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක (1899–1959)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 June 1952	18 February 1956	1349		2nd
2				Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 June 1952	18 February 1956	1349	Kotelawala	2nd
	Office vacant				18 February 1956	19 April 1956	61	Kotelawala	–
	Office vacant				18 February 1956	19 April 1956	61	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	3rd
(1)			N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979)	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	19 April 1956	5 December 1959	1325	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
(1)			N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979)	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	19 April 1956	5 December 1959	1325	Dahanayake
	Office vacant				5 December 1959	30 March 1960	116	Dahanayake	–
	Office vacant				5 December 1959	30 March 1960	116	Dudley Senanayake II	–
3			C. P. de Silva සී. පී. ද සිල්වා (1912–1972)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	30 March 1960	23 April 1960	24		4th
	Office vacant				23 April 1960	5 August 1960	104		–
	Office vacant				23 April 1960	5 August 1960	104	Sirimavo Bandaranayake I	–
4			Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක (1911–1973)	United National Party	5 August 1960	17 December 1964	1595		5th
	Office vacant				17 December 1964	5 April 1965	109		–
	Office vacant				17 December 1964	5 April 1965	109	Dudley Senanayake III	–
5			Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	5 April 1965	25 March 1970	1815		6th
	Office vacant				25 March 1970	7 June 1970	74		–
	Office vacant				25 March 1970	7 June 1970	74	Sirimavo Bandaranayake II	–
6			J. R. Jayewardene ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන (1906–1996)	United National Party	7 June 1970	18 May 1977	2537		7th
	Office vacant				18 May 1977	4 August 1977	78		–
	Office vacant				18 May 1977	4 August 1977	78	Jayewardene	–
7			A. Amirthalingam அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கம் (1927–1989)	Tamil United Liberation Front	4 August 1977	24 October 1983	2272		8th
	Office vacant				24 October 1983	8 November 1983	15
8			Anura Bandaranaike අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක (1949–2008)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	8 November 1983	20 December 1988	1869
	Office vacant				20 December 1988	9 March 1989	79		–
	Office vacant				20 December 1988	9 March 1989	79	Premadasa	–
(5)			Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 March 1989	24 June 1994	1902	Premadasa	9th
(5)			Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 March 1989	24 June 1994	1902	Wijetunga	9th
	Office vacant				24 June 1994	25 August 1994	62		–
9			Gamini Dissanayake ගාමිණි දිසානායක (1942–1994)	United National Party	25 August 1994	24 October 1994	60		10th
	Office vacant				24 October 1994	28 October 1994	4
	Office vacant				24 October 1994	28 October 1994	4	Kumaratunga
10			Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ (born 1949)	United National Party	28 October 1994	10 October 2001	2549		10th 11th
	Office vacant				10 October 2001	18 December 2001	69		–
11			Ratnasiri Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්‍රමනායක (1933–2016)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	18 December 2001	31 January 2002	44		12th
	Office vacant				31 January 2002	6 February 2002	6
12			Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	6 February 2002	7 February 2004	730
	Office vacant				7 February 2004	22 April 2004	75		–
(10)			Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ (born 1949)	United National Party	22 April 2004	9 January 2015	3914		13th
(10)			Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ (born 1949)	United National Party	22 April 2004	9 January 2015	3914	Mahinda Rajapaksa	14th
	Office vacant				9 January 2015	16 January 2015	7	Sirisena I
13			Nimal Siripala de Silva නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා (born 1944)	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	16 January 2015	26 June 2015	161	Sirisena I
	Office vacant				26 June 2015	3 September 2015	69	Sirisena I	–
14			R. Sampanthan இரா. சம்பந்தன் (1933–2024)	Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	3 September 2015	18 December 2018	1202	Sirisena II	15th
(12)			Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945)	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	18 December 2018	21 November 2019	338	Sirisena IV
	Office vacant				21 November 2019	3 January 2020	43	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
15			Sajith Premadasa සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස (born 1967)	Samagi Jana Balawegaya	3 January 2020	Incumbent	2292
									16th
								Wickremesinghe	16th
								Dissnayake	17th

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

No.	Name	Party	No. of terms	Length of term
No.	Name	Party	No. of terms	Longest continuous term	Total years
1	Ranil Wickremesinghe	UNP	2	10 years, 262 days	17 years, 258 days
2	Sirimavo Bandaranaike	SLFP	2	5 years, 107 days	10 years, 67 days
3	N. M. Perera	LSSP	2	4 years, 177 days	8 years, 43 days
4	J. R. Jayewardene	UNP	1	6 years, 345 days	6 years, 345 days
5	Sajith Premadasa	SJB	1	6 years, 100 days*	6 years, 100 days*
6	A. Amirthalingam	TULF	1	6 years, 81 days	6 years, 81 days
7	Anura Bandaranaike	SLFP	1	5 years, 42 days	5 years, 42 days
8	Dudley Senanayake	UNP	1	4 years, 134 days	4 years, 134 days
9	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	SLFP	1	3 years, 244 days	3 years, 244 days
10	R. Sampanthan	ITAK	1	3 years, 106 days	3 years, 106 days
11	Mahinda Rajapaksa	SLFP, SLPP	2	2 years, 1 day	2 years, 338 days
12	Nimal Siripala de Silva	SLFP	1	161 days	161 days
13	Gamini Dissanayake	UNP	1	60 days	60 days
14	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake	SLFP	1	44 days	44 days
15	C. P. de Silva	SLFP	1	24 days	24 days

References

↑ Srinivasan, Meera (5 December 2019). "Sajith Premadasa named Opposition leader in Sri Lanka". The Hindu.
↑ "Sri Lanka : Speaker to officially announce appointment of Opposition Leader when parliament convenes in January". www.colombopage.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06.
↑ Of Ministers’ Salaries And Parliamentary Perks
↑ No official residence for Opposition Leader
↑ Sampanthan finally gets official residence!

External links

Parliament of Sri Lanka - Handbook of Parliament, Leaders of the Opposition

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[1] Srinivasan, Meera (5 December 2019). "Sajith Premadasa named Opposition leader in Sri Lanka". The Hindu.

[2] "Sri Lanka : Speaker to officially announce appointment of Opposition Leader when parliament convenes in January". www.colombopage.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06.

[3] Of Ministers’ Salaries And Parliamentary Perks

[4] No official residence for Opposition Leader

[5] Sampanthan finally gets official residence!

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