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 again from 2022 to 2024.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth 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.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya, less commonly known by its English name the National Heritage Party, is a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist political party in Sri Lanka. The JHU was launched in February 2004 by the lay-based, Sinhalese nationalist political party Sihala Urumaya.
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 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.
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.
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and a politician. He is a Member of Parliament from the Colombo District of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. He is currently the leader of a civil society named "43rd Brigade", after declaring himself as an independent Member of Parliament on 8 June 2022. He was the Cabinet Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, as well as Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Power and Energy and Technology, Research and Atomic Energy.
Mallawa Arachchige Gamini Jayawickrama Perera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was a United National Party member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the Kurunegala District between 1994 and 2020, and had previously represented Katugampola in the National State Assembly from 1977 to 1989. Perera served many cabinet positions in various Sri Lankan governments, including being the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Minister of Wayamba Development, Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, Minister of Food Security and the Minister of Irrigation and Water Management. Perera also briefly left national politics to become the Chief Minister of the North Western Province and serve in the North Western Provincial Council. Perera helped represent Sri Lanka's interests internationally as the chairman of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a position he was elected to in April 2016. Furthermore, he held the position of chairman of the United National Party during a significant period of his career.
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 entered as a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa back in 2020 and ended his tenure in 2024.
Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Jayaratne, known as D. M. "Di Mu" Jayaratne, was a Sri Lankan politician who was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015. A founding member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Jayaratne was first elected to parliament in 1970. He was sworn in as prime minister on 21 April 2010.
Keheliya Rambukwella is a Sri Lankan politician, hotelier, film producer and former cabinet minister. He has served in multiple ministerial posts, including the former Minister of Mass Media and Information, Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, Minister of Water Supply and Drainage, Minister of Health and Minister of Environment.
Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero, is a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu politician and a Member of Parliament. He is the only representative from Our Power of People's Party in the current parliament.
Basil Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
Eran Wickramaratne, MP is a Sri Lankan banker and politician. He is the former State Minister of Finance and member of Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was the Deputy Minister of Investment Promotions and Highways under 100 days program. He was the CEO of NDB Bank from 2001 to 2010 and a former chairman of the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). He is a member of Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Vidura Wickremanayake is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs from 2022 to 2024. A Member of Parliament, he is the son of the former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.
Ramesh Pathirana is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and former Minister of Health. He previously served as the Minister of Plantation Industries, Minister of Industries and Minister of Education.He belongs to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He was educated at Richmond College, Galle and University of Peradeniya. He is a physician by profession and is the son of former Education and Higher Education minister Richard Pathirana.
Wimalaweera Dissanayake (Sinhala: විමලවීර දිසානායක) is a Sri Lankan politician and current member of parliament for Digamadulla District. He was elected on 18 August 2015 from United People's Freedom Alliance. After the 2019 Presidential election, the newly elected president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa appointed him as state minister of wildlife on 27 November 2019, and he was once again appointed to the same post after the cabinet stepped down in the 2022 crisis. He served from 18 April 2022 until 9 May 2022 following another mass resignation of the Sri Lankan cabinet.
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 was the ruling party in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party in parliament from 2020 to 2024. 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 and the Rajapaksa family.
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.
The Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya or Supreme Lanka Coalition is a political alliance in Sri Lanka formed in 2022. The coalition is made up of seven Sri Lankan leftist and nationalist parties who were formerly part of the SLPP-led Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance, before defecting to the opposition amidst the 2022 economic crisis and political crisis. The first conference of the alliance was held on 4 September 2022. Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) and former cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa is the chairman of the Supreme Lanka Coalition.
