The Jathika Hela Urumaya is a nationalist political party in Sri Lanka. The JHU was launched in February 2004 by the lay-based,Sinhala nationalist political party Sihala Urumaya. Founding members include Kolonnawe Sumangala Thero,Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero,Ellawala Medhananda Thero,Omalpe Sobhitha Thero,Athuraliye Rathana Thero and Thilak Karunaratne. Some Sri Lankan Buddhists,including the All Island Clergy Organization,denounced the decision by monks to enter politics. The party drew support mainly from the middle class conservatives and the Buddhist youth.
The Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya is a political party in Sri Lanka,founded in 1984 by Vijaya Kumaranatunga.
Walpola Rahula Thero (1907–1997) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk,scholar and writer. In 1964,he became the Professor of History and Religions at Northwestern University,thus becoming the first bhikkhu to hold a professorial chair in the Western world. He also once held the position of Vice-Chancellor at the then Vidyodaya University. He has written extensively about Buddhism in English,French and Sinhala. He wrote the book What the Buddha Taught about Theravada Buddhism.
Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero,a popular Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. He rose to fame from his weekly sermon programmes (bana) on TV. A critic of the government system in Sri Lanka he joined the Jathika Hela Urumaya with a group of monks to contest the local elections in 2004 and was elected as a member of Parliament.
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and a politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 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.
Kotapola Amarakitti Thero is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and politician. He was a representative of Colombo for Jathika Hela Urumaya in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Ellawala Medhananda Thero is a Sri Lankan politician and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had also organized many charities and engaged himself in educational activities in under-prevailed rural communities. As an academic scholar he has published 40 books of academic and archaeological research of which the book on the "Sinhala-Buddhist Heritage in the Northern and Eastern Provinces" published in 2003 by Jayakody Publishers in Colombo is most well known Medhananda was a parliamentarian elected by the Jathika hela Urumaya,a party which campaigned for the rights of Buddhists. As a consequence,many Marxist as well as Tamil separatist writers have criticized him for his alleged right-wing political leanings and pro-majoritarian sentiments. He only presented himself for elections only once. Since then he has devoted himself to charitable works,teaching and scholarly activities in rural regions of Sri Lanka
Udawatte Nanda Thero is a Sri Lankan politician and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Alawwe Nandaloka Thero is a Sri Lankan politician and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He replaced elected official Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala,who resigned on 8 October 2004,six months after the Sri Lankan parliamentary election.
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.
The 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka,with the membership determined by the results of the 2004 parliamentary election held on 2 April 2004. The parliament met for the first time on 22 April 2004 and was dissolved on 9 February 2010.
Richard Pathirana was a Sri Lankan politician and educationist. He served as the minister for Education and Higher Education from 1994 to 2000 and as the minister for State Administration,Home Affairs and Administration Reforms from 2000 to 2001 in the cabinets of Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero was an influential Sinhalese Buddhist monk regarded for his nonviolent revolutionary leadership in Sri Lanka and the chief incumbent of the Kotte Naga Vihara. He was a prominent social-political activist,an independent thinker who endured to improve the positive and constructive aspects of Sri Lankan Politics.
Akmeemana electoral district was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between March 1960 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Akmeemana in Galle District,Southern Province. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral system for electing members of Parliament. The existing 160 mainly single-member electoral districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts. Akmeemana electoral district was replaced by the Galle multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections.
Baddegama Samitha Thero also simply known as Samitha Thero was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and a politician. A member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP),Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thero was a member of the Sri Lankan parliament for Galle District from 2001 to 2004. He represented the Southern Provincial Council under United People's Freedom Alliance. Samitha Thero is regarded as the first ever Buddhist monk to enter the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Senapala Samarasekera was a Sri Lankan politician.
Sumanadasa Abeywickrama was a Sri Lankan politician and a Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Keerthisena Chandradasa Abeywickrama was a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the parliament.
Keerthilatha Premawathie Abeywickrama was a Sri Lankan politician and a Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
The Akmeemana Polling Division is a Polling Division in the Galle Electoral District,in the Southern Province,Sri Lanka.
