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.
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. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
Nadarajah Raviraj was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of Jaffna in 2001 and a Member of Parliament for Jaffna District from 2001 to 2006. A member of the Tamil National Alliance,he was shot dead on 10 November 2006 in Colombo.
Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa,is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer,who served as the eighth president of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
The Sunday Leader was an English-language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are the Iruresa (Irudina) and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge,the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage. The newspaper and its staff have been attacked and threatened several times and its founding editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated.
Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist,politician,broadcaster and human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009.
Jaliya Wickramasuriya is a Sri Lankan businessman. A close relative of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,he was the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2014,until the US government asked the Sri Lankan government to recall him. He has been accused of several financial crimes during his tenure. In April 2022,he pleaded guilty to diverting $332,000 of Sri Lankan government funds supposedly intended for the purchase of a new embassy site.
Lalith Chandrakumar Weeratunga,SLAS,is the former Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka. As the President's Secretary he was the top civil servant in the country and de facto head of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service. Prior to the appointment he was the Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
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.{{cn}
Basil Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the eldest son of 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.
Sajin de Vass Gunawardena,is a controversial Sri Lankan politician,former MP and businessman. He was member of Parliament of Sri Lanka,and was the former CEO of Mihin Lanka government sponsored budget airline. He also served as coordinating secretary on trade and foreign affairs to the President of Sri Lanka. Prior to entering parliament in 2010 he was a member of the southern provincial council. Sajin has been involved in several controversies,and was widely criticised for his role as CEO of Mihin Lanka and for his involvement in the bankruptcy and financial misfortune of the airline.
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 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election was the 7th presidential election,held on 8 January 2015. This election was held two years ahead of schedule. Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate,seeking a third term in office. The United National Party-led opposition coalition chose to field Maithripala Sirisena,former Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party –the main constituent party of the UPFA –as its common candidate.
Lieutenant Commander Yoshitha Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan sportsman and former naval officer. He is the son of the sixth president of Sri Lanka,Mahinda Rajapaksa and served as the chief of staff to the prime minister of Sri Lanka.
The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is a law enforcement unit of the Sri Lanka Police tasked with investigating financial crimes.
The following lists notable events that occurred during 2016 in Sri Lanka.
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.
Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya was the 32nd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2009–2011).
In 2015 a coup d'état was allegedly attempted in Sri Lanka by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in order to remain in power after he had been voted out in the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election. Rajapaksa,who was expected to easily win a third term in office lost to Maithripala Sirisena,a former ally and member of the Rajapaksa administration. Though ultimately there was a peaceful transition between governments,some government officials claim Rajapaksa made an attempt to deploy the army and police to stop the counting of votes when initial results showed he was heading for defeat.
