Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga , commonly referred to by her initials CBK, 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 first and 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.
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 Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP, is a major Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It was the first political party in Sri Lanka, having been founded in 1935 by Leslie Goonewardene, N.M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena and Robert Gunawardena. It currently is a member of the main ruling coalition in the government of Sri Lanka and is headed by Tissa Vitharana. The party was founded with Leninist ideals, and is classified as a party with socialist aims.
The United People's Freedom Alliance was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004 and dissolved by former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in 2019.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major and most well known political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by S.W.R.D Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the predominant party in government on a number of occasions. The party is generally considered as having a democratic socialist or progressive economic agenda and is often associated with nationalist Sinhalese parties. The party follows a Non-Aligned foreign policy but always had close ties to socialist nations.
The National Unity Alliance is a political alliance in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1999, the alliance ceased to exist in 2010 when its remaining members joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. However, Azath Salley subsequently assumed leadership of the party and the party is presently active.
The United Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers' International.
Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the first openly gay politician from Sri Lanka. He was the Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2019, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2007, after which he formed a new political party called the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana) Wing, which later merged with the United National Party in 2010.
During the Donoughmore period of political experimentation (1931–48), several Sri Lanka leftist parties were formed in British colonial Ceylon. Unlike most other Sri Lankan parties, these leftist parties were noncommunal in membership.
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 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.
The All Ceylon Makkal Congress is a registered political party in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 2005 by Rishad Bathiudeen. Since 2020, the All Ceylon Makkal Congress has been a constituent party of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).
The League for the Fifth International (L5I) is an international grouping of revolutionary Trotskyist organisations around a common programme and perspectives.
Kulappu Arachchige Don Dhammika Perera, commonly known as Dhammika Perera, is a Sri Lankan billionaire businessman and politician. A top corporate raider, he is one of the wealthiest people in Sri Lanka, Perera controls 23 listed companies on the Colombo Stocke Exchange. Perera owns a controlling stake in the conglomerates Hayleys and Vallibel One, a company he founded. Through Hayleys, Perera controls Amaya Leisure, The Kingsbury and Singer while Royal Ceramics, LB Finance, and Lanka Tiles are controlled by Vallibel One. Perera has been closely linked to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, having served as chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2010 and Transport Secretary from 2011 to 2015. He was appointed a Member of Parliament in the National List in June 2022, succeeding Basil Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, briefly serving President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as his Minister of Investment Promotion from June to July 2022.
Mahamood Lebbe Alim Mohamed Hizbullah is a Sri Lankan politician and state minister. He was a minor presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections.
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 ran for president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, defeating his main opponent Sajith Premadasa.
Ajantha Wijesinghe Perera is a Sri Lankan academic, scientist, university lecturer, environmental activist and politician. She is known for her efforts to end the garbage crisis in Sri Lanka and is nicknamed as Garbage Queen. She founded the National Programme on Recycling of Solid Waste to solve the garbage crisis.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya is a political alliance 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) joined the new alliance on 12 February 2020.
Harini Amarasuriya is a Sri Lankan academic, rights activist, university lecturer and politician who is serving as a National List Member of Parliament for National People's Power party. She has also served as a senior lecturer at the Department of Social Studies of the Open University of Sri Lanka. She represents the National People's Power party since 2019. She is ideologically on the centre-left of the National People's Power Party; she considers herself to be a Liberal. Harini is well known for her researches on pressing issues such as youth unemployment, gender inequality, child protection and inefficiencies in Sri Lankan education system. She also currently runs works as a member of the Board of Directors of a Sri Lankan local NGO called, Nest.
The following lists notable events that took place during the year 2023 in Sri Lanka.
