Part of the Politics series |
Party politics |
---|
Politicsportal |
This is a List of political parties in Southern Asia by country, linking to the country list of parties and the political system of each country in the region.
Country | Multi party | Two party | Dominant party | Single party | No party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afghanistan | • | |||||
Bangladesh | • [1] | [2] | ||||
Bhutan | • | |||||
India | • | |||||
Iran | • | |||||
Maldives | • | |||||
Nepal | • | |||||
Pakistan | • | |||||
Sri Lanka | • | [3] | [4] |
Sri Lanka is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government, and it relies on a multi-party system. 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. For decades, the party system was dominated by the socialist Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the conservative United National Party. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Sri Lanka's politics reflect the historical and political differences between the three main ethnic groups, the Sinhala majority and the Tamil and Muslim minorities, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island.
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. The country's only female president to date and The country's second female prime minister, she is the daughter of two former prime ministers and was the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) until the end of 2005.
Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to 1 May 1993. Before that, he served as the prime minister in the government headed by J. R. Jayewardene from 6 February 1978 to 1 January 1989. He was awarded Sri Lanka's highest award to a civilian Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President Junius Richard Jayewardene, the first to receive in Sri Lankan history. He was assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing by the LTTE.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, is a Sri Lankan politician, who is the current Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka. He is a member of parliament from the United National Party. He has been the leader of the United National Party since 1994. Earlier he served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015.
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP, 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. This includes 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.
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 the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
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 former 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.
Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya, MP is a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Previously he was Mayor of Colombo from 1997 to 1999, Minister of Power and Energy from 2001 to 2004, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs from 2007 to 2008, and Minister of Buddha Sasana, Public Administration, and Democratic Governance in 2015. He has served as Chairman of the Leadership Council of the United National Party (UNP), as well as Deputy Leader of the UNP. He is a member of parliament representing the Gampaha District since 2001. He had served as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to (Germany). As Speaker of Parliament, he also acts as Chairman of the Constitutional Council.
Nambukara Helambage Rajitha Harischandra Senaratne is a Sri Lankan dentist, politician, member of parliament and former cabinet minister. He is currently a member of parliament representing Kalutara district
Sajith Premadasa, MP is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and Member of Parliament for Colombo District. He is the current leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha was a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 2001 to 2004. He was a member of the United National Party (UNP) and a member of UNP Working Committee. He was also appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015. At the time of his death he acted as the special envoy (representative) to the Prime Minister. His younger son Kanishka Rajapaksha was also appointed as the Coordinating Assistant to the Prime Minister after the death of Rajapaksha. Kanishka is an Attorney at Law in his profession.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 17 August 2015, ten months ahead of schedule, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 15th Parliament.
The 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka was the meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka with its membership determined by the results of the 2015 parliamentary election, held on 17 August 2015. The parliament met for the first time on 1 September 2015 and was dissolved on 3 March 2020. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 5 years from the first meeting.
Cyril Esmond Lucien Wickremesinghe was a Ceylonese press baron, lawyer, and a successful entrepreneur. He also played key role in defeating Sirimavo Bandaranaike that brought United National Party's Dudley Senanayake to power in 1965's Parliamentary Election. He is also father of the United National Party leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Thenahandi Wijayapala Hector Mendis was a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
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.
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.
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 was contesting for president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won this election to Sajith Premadasa.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya is a political party that is led by the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa. The alliance was formed with the approval from the working committee of the United National Party (UNP) to contest the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. On 11 February 2020 the election commission of Sri Lanka announced that they have accepted the party as a recognised political party in Sri Lanka. Ranjith Mandumabandara was named as the General Secretary of the party. Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) join the new alliance on 12 February 2020. Alliance won 54 seats and became the main opposition in just 6 months after its formation. While the alliance traces its 'roots' back (primarily) to the liberal-conservative principles of the UNP, some members of the Sri Lankan media argued that the SJB has over time moved to the (progressive/democratic) political centre and even espouses several social democratic (centre-left) ideals.
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.