Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who is the 9th and current President of Sri Lanka. He also holds several ministerial positions, including the Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.
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 a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
Hambantota is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka.
Don Alwin Rajapaksa was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament who represented the Beliatta electorate in Hambantota district from 1947 to 1965. A founding member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda Dahanayake's government, he was the father of two Sri Lankan Presidents; Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Don Peter Atapattu, popularly known as D. P. Atapattu, was Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Minister of State and a Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka.
Walauwa or walawwa is the name given to a feudal/colonial manor house in Sri Lanka of a native headmen. It also refers to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era.
Ranjith Kanishka Parakrama Atapattu was a Sri Lankan physician and politician.
George Rajapaksa was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the former Cabinet Minister of Health, Fisheries and a Member of Parliament.
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. He hails from a well-known political family in Sri Lanka. His father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was a prominent politician, independence agitator, member of parliament and Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda Dahanayake's government. He is the elder brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 and Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was President from 2019 to 2022. Nine members of the Rajapaksa family have been members of parliament in Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, also 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 Hambantota International Port is a deep water port in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, which has been leased to China on a 99-year lease. Opened in 2010, it is Sri Lanka's second largest port, after Colombo. In 2020, the port handled 1.8 million tonnes of cargo.
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.
Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the eldest son of Sri Lankan former President and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and a member of parliament. He was the Minister of Youth and Sports from 2020 to 2022.
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, when many members of the family occupied 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. In the 2019 presidential election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa, ran and won. The popularity of the Rajapaksa family collapsed after their actions caused the economic crisis that started in 2019, resulting in Sri Lanka defaulting on its debt for the first time in its post-independence history within just 30 months of coming to power. The extended Rajapaksa family is believed to have amassed a large amount of wealth and while the amount of and scale is unknown several members of the family have been revealed in international investigations such as the Pandora Papers to be using networks of shell companies and trusts to hide their wealth in offshore tax havens which has led to accusations of Rajapaksas turning Sri Lanka into a Kleptocracy
Corruption in Sri Lanka is considered a major problem in all levels of society, from the top echelons of political power to minor staff levels.
The Sri Lanka People's Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. Previously a minor political party known as the Sri Lanka National Front (SLNF) and Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (OSLFF), it was relaunched in 2016 as the SLPP and became the home for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Denagama Vitharanage Chanaka Dinushan is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was elected as the United People's Freedom Alliance candidate, representing the Hambantota Electoral District at the general parliamentary elections held in August 2015.
The 2022 Sri Lankan protests, commonly known as The Struggle, were a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy, which led to a subsequent economic crisis involving severe inflation, daily blackouts, and a shortage of fuel, domestic gas, and other essential goods. The protesters' main demand was the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and key officials from the Rajapaksa family. Despite the involvement of several opposition parties, most protesters considered themselves to be apolitical, with many expressing discontent with the parliamentary opposition. Protesters chanted slogans such as "Go Home Gota", "Go Home Rajapaksas", and "Aragalayata Jaya Wewa". Most protests were organized by the general public, with youths playing a major part by carrying out protests at Galle Face Green.
The 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis was a political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka. It was fueled by the anti-government protests and demonstrations by the public due to the economic crisis in the country. The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered a state of political instability that is unprecedented in the nation's history.
D. A. Rajapaksa Museum also simply called the Rajapaksa Museum is a museum in Hambantota, Sri Lanka dedicated to the late D. A. Rajapaksa and his wife Dandina Rajapaksa of the Rajapaksa family, the parents of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The museum contained personal belongings of D.A and Dandina Rajapaksa including handwritten letters and photos of the Rajapaksa family. The construction of the museum has attracted controversy over the misuse of public funds and the use of state institutions such as the Sri Lankan Navy and Urban Development Authority. It was largely destroyed during the 2022 Sri Lankan Protests.
