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.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only eighty two seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this was eight seats short of an absolute majority, the Alliance was able to form a government.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the previous elections in October 2000.
Kovilage Anton Vijaya Kumaranatunga, popularly known as Vijaya Kumaratunga, was a Sri Lankan actor, playback singer and a politician, regarded as one of the most popular icons in Sri Lankan cinema of all time. He was married to former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaranatunga from 1978 until his assassination in 1988. He was the Founder of Sri Lanka Mahajana Party.
Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician, served as Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka (2000-2001) and Leader of the Opposition (1983–1988). He held several cabinet ministries as Foreign Minister briefly in 2005, Minister of Higher Education (1993–1994), Minister of Tourism, Minister of National Heritage (2007) and he last served as a member of parliament from the opposition.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and another in 1987–89 (UNP). The motive for both uprisings was to establish a socialist state.
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 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 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.
Wijeyananda Dahanayake was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from September 1959 to March 1960.
The People's Alliance (PA) was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994, until it was dissolved in 2004. D. M. Jayaratne was the general secretary of the alliance.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 August 1994. They marked the decisive end of seventeen years of United National Party rule and a revival of Sri Lankan democracy.
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.
Don Edwin Weerasinghe Gunasekera is a Sri Lankan politician, former Member of Parliament and former cabinet minister. He is the current leader of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL), a member of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
Vasudeva Nanayakkara is a Sri Lankan left-wing politician, Member of Parliament and presidential candidate in the 1982 and 1999 Sri Lankan presidential elections.
Ahangama Withanage Oswin Nandimithra Abeyagoonasekera was a member of Parliament and chairman and the leader of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya or Party. He was assassinated by a female suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) while attending an election rally in support of Gamini Dissanayake, for the presidential election of 1994. He was an alumnus of Ananda College, St.Benedict's College Colombo.
Vijaya Kumaratunga, Sri Lankan politician and founder of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, was assassinated by an assassin of the militant organization Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya (DJV) on February 16, 1988, while attempting to leave his home in Polhengoda in Colombo. Shot in the head as he reached the gate to his residence, Kumaratunga died on the same day at 12:22 pm, before being taken to the hospital.
