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Sri Lankaportal |
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.
Starting from the early 1950s, the two main parties of Sri Lanka were the social democratic Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the liberal conservative United National Party for several decades. Recently, however, the influence of the two parties has diminished significantly; currently, the two main parties are the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, both of which split from one of the two previous parties, respectively. Other notable parties include the Tamil National Alliance, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.
The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Sri Lanka a " flawed democracy " in 2022. [1] [ needs update ]
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President | Ranil Wickremesinghe [note 1] | United National Party | 21 July 2022 |
Prime Minister | Dinesh Gunawardena | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 22 July 2022 |
The president, directly elected for a five-year term, is the head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The election occurs under the Sri Lankan form of the contingent vote. Responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties under the constitution and laws, the president may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament with the concurrence of the Supreme Court.
The president appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers responsible to Parliament. The president's deputy is the prime minister, who leads the ruling party in Parliament. A parliamentary no-confidence vote requires dissolution of the cabinet and the appointment of a new one by the President.
The Parliament has 225 members, elected for a five-year term: 196 members elected in multi-seat constituencies and 29 by proportional representation.
The primary modification is that the party that receives the largest number of valid votes in each constituency gains a unique "bonus seat" (see Hickman, 1999). The president may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and can dissolve Parliament at any time once a year has passed since the last general elections (except in a few limited circumstances). The President can also dissolve Parliament before the completion of one year, if requested to do so by a resolution signed by at least half the MPs. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws. Since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that presidential elections would be held in November 2005, resolving a long-running dispute on the length of President Kumaratunga's term. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was nominated the SLFP candidate and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the UNP candidate. The election was held on 17 November 2005, and Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the 5th Executive President of Sri Lanka winning 50.3% of valid votes, compared to Ranil Wickremesinghe's 48.4%. Mahinda Rajapaksa took oath as president on 19 November 2005. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister on 21 November 2005, to fill the post vacated by Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was previously Prime Minister from 2000 until 2001.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the 2015 presidential elections, ending his ten-year presidency. However, his successor, President Maithripala Sirisena, decided not to seek re-election in 2019. [3] This enabled the Rajapaksa family to regain power in the 2019 presidential elections. Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother and former wartime defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election, and was sworn in as the 7th Executive President of Sri Lanka. [4] [5] The Rajapaksa's firm grip of power consolidated in the parliamentary elections held in August 2020. The family's political party Sri Lanka People's Front (known by its Sinhala initials SLPP) won a landslide victory and a clear majority in the parliament, and five members of the Rajapaksa family won a seat in the parliament. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa became the new prime minister. [6]
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gotabaya Rajapaksa | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 6,924,255 | 52.25 | |
Sajith Premadasa | New Democratic Front | 5,564,239 | 41.99 | |
Anura Kumara Dissanayake | National People's Power | 418,553 | 3.16 | |
Mahesh Senanayake | National People's Party | 49,655 | 0.37 | |
M. L. A. M. Hizbullah | Independent | 38,814 | 0.29 | |
Ariyawansa Dissanayake | Democratic United National Front | 34,537 | 0.26 | |
Ajantha Perera | Socialist Party of Sri Lanka | 27,572 | 0.21 | |
Rohan Pallewatte | National Development Front | 25,173 | 0.19 | |
Siripala Amarasinghe | Independent | 15,285 | 0.12 | |
Milroy Fernando | Independent | 13,641 | 0.10 | |
M. K. Shivajilingam | Independent | 12,256 | 0.09 | |
Battaramulle Seelarathana | Jana Setha Peramuna | 11,879 | 0.09 | |
Ajantha de Zoysa | Ruhunu Janatha Peramuna | 11,705 | 0.09 | |
Anuruddha Polgampola | Independent | 10,219 | 0.08 | |
Namal Rajapaksa | National Unity Alliance | 9,497 | 0.07 | |
Jayantha Ketagoda | Independent | 9,467 | 0.07 | |
Duminda Nagamuwa | Frontline Socialist Party | 8,219 | 0.06 | |
Aparekke Punnananda | Independent | 7,611 | 0.06 | |
Subramanium Gunaratnam | Our National Front | 7,333 | 0.06 | |
A. S. P. Liyanage | Sri Lanka Labour Party | 6,447 | 0.05 | |
Piyasiri Wijenayake | Independent | 4,636 | 0.03 | |
Aruna de Zoysa | Democratic National Movement | 4,218 | 0.03 | |
Rajiva Wijesinha | Independent | 4,146 | 0.03 | |
Illiyas Idroos Mohamed | Independent | 3,987 | 0.03 | |
Siritunga Jayasuriya | United Socialist Party | 3,944 | 0.03 | |
Sarath Keerthirathna | Independent | 3,599 | 0.03 | |
Sarath Manamendra | New Sinhala Heritage | 3,380 | 0.03 | |
Pani Wijesiriwardene | Socialist Equality Party | 3,014 | 0.02 | |
Ashoka Wadigamangawa | Independent | 2,924 | 0.02 | |
A. H. M. Alavi | Independent | 2,903 | 0.02 | |
Saman Perera | Our Power of People Party | 2,368 | 0.02 | |
Priyantha Edirisinghe | Okkoma Wesiyo Okkoma Rajawaru Sanwidhanaya | 2,139 | 0.02 | |
Samaraweera Weerawanni | Independent | 2,067 | 0.02 | |
Bedde Gamage Nandimithra | Nava Sama Samaja Party | 1,841 | 0.01 | |
Samansiri Herath | Independent | 976 | 0.01 | |
Total | 13,252,499 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 13,252,499 | 98.99 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 135,452 | 1.01 | ||
Total votes | 13,387,951 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 15,992,096 | 83.72 | ||
Source: Election Commission |
Alliances and parties | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
District | National | Total | |||||
6,853,690 | 59.09% | 128 | 17 | 145 | |||
2,771,980 | 23.90% | 47 | 7 | 54 | |||
327,168 | 2.82% | 9 | 1 | 10 | |||
445,958 | 3.84% | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
67,766 | 0.58% | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
Eelam People's Democratic Party | 61,464 | 0.53% | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
United National Party (Ranil wing) | 249,435 | 2.15% | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Our Power of People's Party | 67,758 | 0.58% | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal | 67,692 | 0.58% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Sri Lanka Freedom Party [lower-roman 5] | 66,579 | 0.57% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Muslim National Alliance | 55,981 | 0.48% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 51,301 | 0.44% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
All Ceylon Makkal Congress [lower-roman 6] | 43,319 | 0.37% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
National Congress [lower-roman 2] | 39,272 | 0.34% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress [lower-roman 7] | 34,428 | 0.30% | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Independents | 223,622 | 1.93% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
United Peace Alliance | 31,054 | 0.27% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
All Lanka Tamil Mahasabha | 30,031 | 0.26% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
National Development Front | 14,686 | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Frontline Socialist Party | 14,522 | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Social Democratic Party of Tamils | 11,464 | 0.10% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Tamil United Liberation Front | 9,855 | 0.08% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Socialist Party of Sri Lanka | 9,368 | 0.08% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
People's Welfare Front | 7,361 | 0.06% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Sinhalese National Front | 5,056 | 0.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
New Democratic Front | 4,883 | 0.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
United Left Front | 4,879 | 0.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Liberal Party of Sri Lanka | 4,345 | 0.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
National People's Party | 3,813 | 0.03% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Democratic United National Front | 3,611 | 0.03% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
National Democratic Front | 3,488 | 0.03% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Sri Lanka Labour Party | 3,134 | 0.03% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Democratic Left Front | 2,964 | 0.03% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
New Sinhala Heritage | 1,397 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
United Socialist Party | 1,189 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Motherland People's Party | 1,087 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Eelavar Democratic Front | 1,035 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Socialist Equality Party | 780 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Lanka Sama Samaja Party [lower-roman 4] | 737 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
All Are Citizens All Are Kings Organization | 632 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Democratic Unity Alliance | 145 | 0.00% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Valid Votes | 11,598,929 | 100.00% | 196 | 29 | 225 | ||
Rejected Votes | 744,373 | 6.03% | |||||
Total Polled | 12,343,302 | 75.89% | |||||
Registered Electors | 16,263,885 | ||||||
Footnotes:
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The local government is divided into two parallel structures, the civil service, which dates back to colonial times, and the provincial councils, established in 1987.
The country is divided into 25 districts, each of which has a district secretary (the government agent or GA) who is appointed. Each district has 5–16 divisions, each with a divisional secretary who is also appointed. At a village level, Grama Niladari (Village Officers), Samurdhi Niladari (Development Officers) and agriculture extension officers all work for their respective divisional secretaries.
Under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord signed in 1987 and the subsequent 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the Government of Sri Lanka agreed to devolve some authority to the provinces. Provincial councils are directly elected for five-year terms. The leader of the council majority serves as the province's Chief Minister with a board of ministers; a provincial governor is appointed by the president.
The Provincial Councils have full statute making power with respect to the Provincial Council List, and shared statute making power respect to the Concurrent List. While all matters set out in the Reserved List are under the central government.
Despite the existence of the 13th amendment, provincial council elections have not been held since 2014.
Below the provincial level are elected Municipal Councils and Urban Councils, responsible for municipalities and cities respectively, and below this level Pradeshiya Sabhas (village councils), again elected. There are 24 Municipal Councils, 41 Urban Councils and 276 Pradeshiya Sabhas.
Sri Lanka's judiciary consists of a Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, and a number of subordinate courts. Sri Lanka's legal system is reflective of the country's diverse cultural influences. Criminal law is fundamentally British. Basic civil law is Roman-Dutch, but laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, and inheritance are communal, known as respectively as Kandyan, Thesavalamai (Jaffna Tamil) and Muslim (Roman-Dutch law applies to Low-country Sinhalese, Estate Tamils and others).
Sri Lanka generally follows a non-aligned foreign policy but has been seeking closer relations with the United States since 1977. It participates in multilateral diplomacy, particularly at the United Nations, where it seeks to promote sovereignty, independence, and development in the developing world. Sri Lanka was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). It also is a member of the Commonwealth, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and the Colombo Plan. Sri Lanka continues its active participation in the NAM, while also stressing the importance it places on regionalism by playing a strong role in SAARC.
Sri Lanka is member of the IAEA, IBRD, ADB, C, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-24, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, and WTrO.
The growing interest of other countries in making their claims to Sri Lanka's strategic assets has been generating heated discussion both within national and international circles. China, India and Japan's involvement in Sri Lankan seaport developments is a direct consequence of the ongoing tussle among the three nations to establish a firm foothold in the strategically located island state. [10]
Civil society participation in decision-making and opinion-shaping in Sri Lanka is very poor. Professionals, civil society groups, and media rarely play significant roles in Sri Lankan politics, and as a result many aspects of the lives of ordinary citizens are politicized. In addition, the vacuum created by the silence and inactivity of civil society has led to radical groups such as ethnic/religious-based groups, trade unions and NGOs assuming lead roles as political pressure groups.
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 powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, in addition to their relation with the prime minister and Government of Sri Lanka, have over time differed with the various constitutional documents since the creation of the office. The president appoints the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
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.
The United National Party 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, including 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 and back in 2022.
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.
The United National Front (UNF), later the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), was a political alliance in Sri Lanka led by the United National Party.
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite. He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Sumanaweera Banda Dissanayake, MP is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the former Cabinet Minister of Higher Education in President Mahinda Rajapakse's Government. He was the former general secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and former national organiser of the United National Party. Dissanayake lost his cabinet position after Rajapaksha was defeated at the 2015 presidential election in Sri Lanka.
Vasudeva Nanayakkara is a Sri Lankan left-wing politician, Member of Parliament and presidential candidate in the 1982 and 1999 Sri Lankan presidential elections.
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 powers and functions of the Prime Minister has changed several times since the creation of the office in 1947.
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
The Constitutional Council (CC) is a 10-member constitutional authority in Sri Lanka tasked with maintaining independent commissions and monitoring its affairs. The Constitutional Council is aimed at depoliticizing the public service.
The Sri Lanka People's Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It is the current ruling 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 the party became the base for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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. Incumbent president Maithripala Sirisena did not run for a second term. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and was endorsed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Sajith Premadasa, son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa and deputy leader of the United National Party was the candidate of the ruling party.
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka is the current Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 5 years from the first meeting.
An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 20 July 2022 following the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 14 July. The president of Sri Lanka was elected by the Parliament of Sri Lanka in a secret ballot to decide who would complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's term. Candidates were nominated in the Parliament on 19 July in advance of the election the following day.
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.
Presidential elections will be held in Sri Lanka on 21 September 2024. Voters will elect a president for a 5-year term. Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe is running for re-election as an independent candidate. This would make him the first incumbent president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other candidates include Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The inauguration of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the 8th executive president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka took place on Thursday, 21 July 2022. This officially marked the beginning of Wickremesinghe's term in office, which will conclude in November 2024.