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 Sri Lankaportal |
The president of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive. The president is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene.
United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Independent
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) Home province | Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office | Other ministerial offices held while president | Political party of president | Government | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |  විලියම් ගොපල්ලව வில்லியம் கோபள்ளவா (1896–1981) Central | 22 May 1972 | 4 February 1978 | Independent | Sirimavo Bandaranaike II | 10th | [1] | ||
| — | ||||||||||
| 5 years, 8 months and 13 days | ||||||||||
| Served as the last Governor-General of Ceylon and the first (non-executive) President when Ceylon declared itself a republic in 1972, and changed its name to Sri Lanka. | ||||||||||
| 2 |  |  ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா (1906–1996) Western | 4 February 1978 | 2 January 1989 | Minister of Defence Minister of Planning & Economic Affairs Minister of Plan Implementation Minister of Higher Education | United National Party | Jayewardene | 11th 12th | [1] | |
| 1982 | ||||||||||
| 10 years, 11 months and 29 days | ||||||||||
| Introduced the Executive Presidency in 1978, and assumed the position of president of Sri Lanka. [2] | ||||||||||
| 3 |  |  Ranasinghe Premadasa රණසිංහ ප්රේමදාස ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா (1924–1993) Western | 2 January 1989 | 1 May 1993† | Minister of Defence Minister of Buddha Sasana Minister of Minister of Policy Planning & Implementation | United National Party | Premadasa | 13th | [1] | |
| 1988 | ||||||||||
| 4 years and 4 months | ||||||||||
| Assassinated during a May Day rally by an LTTE suicide bomber. | ||||||||||
| 4 |  Dingiri Banda Wijetunga ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க (1916–2008) Central | 1 May 1993 | 7 May 1993 | Minister of Defence Minister of Finance Minister of Buddhist Affairs | United National Party | Wijetunga I | 13th | [1] | ||
| 7 May 1993 | 12 November 1994 | |||||||||
| 1993 [N 1] | Wijetunga II | 14th | ||||||||
| 1 year, 6 months and 10 days | ||||||||||
| Prime Minister at the time of Premadasa's assassination. Appointed as acting president and continued in that capacity until 7 May 1993 when he was elected by Parliament to the office of president under Article 40 of the Constitution. | ||||||||||
| 5 |  |  චන්ද්රිකා කුමාරතුංග சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்கே குமாரதுங்கா (1945–) Western | 12 November 1994 | 19 November 2005 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Kumaratunga | 14th 15th | [1] | ||
| 1994, 1999 | 16th | |||||||||
| 11 years and 7 days | 17th | |||||||||
| The first non-UNP president of the country. Appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, to succeed her as prime minister. Victim of multiple assassination attempts by the LTTE, all of which were unsuccessful. | ||||||||||
6 |  |  මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ (1945–) Southern | 19 November 2005 | 9 January 2015 | Minister of Defence Minister of Finance Minister of Law & Order Minister of Highways, Ports & Shipping | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Mahinda Rajapaksa | 17th 18th | [1] | |
| 2005, 2010 | ||||||||||
| 9 years, 1 month and 21 days | ||||||||||
| Ended the 25-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War and LTTE insurgency in the country. Alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, various infrastructure development projects, feud with Sarath Fonseka, introduced the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, impeached Shirani Bandaranayake. Defeated in 2015. | ||||||||||
| 7 |  |  මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன (1951–) North Central | 9 January 2015 | 18 November 2019 | Minister of Defence Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment | Sri Lanka Freedom Party [N 2] | Sirisena (UNP backed coalition) | 18th | [1] | |
| 2015 | 19th | |||||||||
| 4 years, 10 months and 9 days | ||||||||||
| Defeated Rajapaksa in his unprecedented bid for a third term. Ran as a candidate of the New Democratic Front and was mainly backed by the UNP. 19th Amendment to the Constitution. 100-day reform program. Reinstated Shirani Bandaranayake as Chief Justice. Promoted Sarath Fonseka to the rank of Field Marshal. Failed to act on intelligence of the 2019 Easter bombings. | ||||||||||
| 8 |  |  ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ (1949–) Southern [3] | 18 November 2019 | 14 July 2022 | Minister of Defence Minister of Technology | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | Rajapaksa I | 19th | [1] | |
| 2019 | Rajapaksa II | 20th | ||||||||
| Rajapaksa III | ||||||||||
| 2 years, 7 months and 26 days | Rajapaksa IV | |||||||||
| Appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. Amassed extensive presidential powers through the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. Economic mismanagement led the country to an economic crisis, and a subsequent political crisis, when he refused to resign in response to massive anti-government protests. Reappointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister in May 2022, following Mahinda Rajapaksa's resignation. Resigned on 14 July, after fleeing the country the day before, designating Wickremesinghe as acting president. [4] [5] [6] [7] | ||||||||||
| 9 |  | Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க (1949–) Western | 14 July 2022 | 20 July 2022 | Minister of Defence Minister of Technology Minister of Finance Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment | United National Party | Wickremesinghe | 20th | [8] | |
| 20 July 2022 | Incumbent | |||||||||
| 2022 [N 1] | ||||||||||
| 1 year, 6 months and 18 days | ||||||||||
| Appointed as acting president following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country amidst the 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis. [9] On 20 July 2022 he was elected by Parliament to the office of president under Article 40 of the Constitution. | ||||||||||
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.
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.
Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to his assassination in 1993. Before that, he served as the Prime minister of Sri Lanka from 6 February 1978 to 2 January 1989. Premadasa is considered as the longest serving uninterrupted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by serving in that post for nearly 11 years. He was the first person conferred Sri Lanka's highest civilian award Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President J. R. Jayewardene.
The president of Sri Lanka is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union government and the commander-in-chief of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.
The president of Ethiopia is the head of state of Ethiopia. The position is largely ceremonial with executive power vested in the Council of Ministers chaired by the prime minister. The current president is Sahle-Work Zewde, who took office on 25 October 2018. Presidents are elected by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly for six years.
The president of Guyana is the head of state and the head of government of Guyana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic, according to the Constitution of Guyana. The president is also the chancellor of the Orders of Guyana. Concurrent with their constitutional role as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the president does not appoint a separate Minister of Defence. That portfolio is held by the president who fulfils all responsibilities designated to a minister of defence under the Defence Act.
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 governor-general of Ceylon was the representative of the Ceylonese monarch in the Dominion of Ceylon from the country's independence in 1948 until it became the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972.
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. As of October 2022 it has been formally amended 21 times.
The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was the head of the British colonial administration in Ceylon, reporting to the Colonial Office.
In Sri Lanka, the Cabinet of Ministers is the council of ministers that form the central government of Sri Lanka. The body of senior ministers responsible and answerable to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The President is a member of the cabinet and its head.
The Speaker of the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the presiding officer of the chamber. The current Speaker of the Parliament is Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, in office since 20 August 2020. 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.
President's House is the official residence and workplace of the President of Sri Lanka, located at Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since 1804 it had been the residence of British Governors and Governors-General and was known as the "King's House" or the "Queen's House" until Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972.
The chief justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801, the chief justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices; the other nine are the puisne justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The post was created in 1801. The chief justice is nominated by the Constitutional Council, and appointed by the president. The first chief justice was Codrington Edmund Carrington. The 47th and current chief justice is Jayantha Jayasuriya.
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and 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 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015. The amendment envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978. It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office, and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas.
