Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to 1 May 1993. Before that, he served as the prime minister in the government headed by J. R. Jayewardene from 6 February 1978 to 1 January 1989. He was awarded Sri Lanka's highest award to a civilian Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President Junius Richard Jayewardene, the first to receive in Sri Lankan history.
Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known as Dr. N. M. Perera, was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He was the first Trotskyist to become a cabinet minister. He served two terms as Minister of Finance and Leader of the Opposition, as well as one term as the Mayor of Colombo.
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, known by the Sri Lankan people as "The Silver Bell of Asia", was the fourth Prime Minister of the Dominion of Ceylon, serving from 1956 until his assassination in 1959, causing him to die in office. The founder of the left-wing and Sinhalese nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party, his tenure saw the country's first left-wing reforms.
Anil Moonesinghe was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a member of parliament, a Cabinet Minister of Transport in 1964, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 1994 to 2000 and a diplomat. He has authored several books and edited newspapers and magazines. He was chairman and general manager of a State corporation. He briefly held the honorary rank of colonel.
Violet Vivienne Goonewardene, commonly known as "Vivi", was a Sri Lankan anti-colonial activist and prominent politician, serving as one of the world's first female ministers. A key figure in both the Indian independence movement and the Sri Lankan independence movement, Goonewardene was a prominent member on the non-aligned stage, where she fought against perceived injustices and was critical of the Middle East diplomacy sponsored by the United States. Goonewardene was the first and, to date, only female National Hero of Sri Lanka. By her death, she was one of the Left's most vibrant personalities, and the foremost female figure in the Sri Lankan leftist movement.
Edmund Peter Samarakkody was a Ceylonese lawyer, trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament.
Dudley Shelton Senanayake, was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1952 to 1953, in 1960 and from 1965 to 1970 and Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. Senanayake's tenures as prime minister were associated with democratic socialist policies focused on agricultural and educational reforms with a pro-western alignment.
Bernadine Rose Senanayake, JP, UM is a Sri Lankan politician, a former beauty queen and also an activist. She was the Mayor of Colombo from 2018 to 2023, and former Prime Minister's Spokesperson and the Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office for Ranil Wickramasinghe. She has been an activist on several issues and an active figure in the opposition gaining much limelight.
The mayor of Colombo is the mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Colombo Municipal Council was established by the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The Mayor is assisted by the Deputy Mayor and a Municipal Commissioner. Since 1944 the majority of the mayors have been from the United National Party.
Omar Zuraik Kamil is a Sri Lankan politician and diplomat. He served as Mayor of Colombo and Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Republic of Iran.
Local elections were held in Sri Lanka on 17 March 2011, 23 July 2011 and 8 October 2011 to elect 4,327 members for 322 of the 335 local authorities in the country. 13.7 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election. Elections to two other local authorities in Mullaitivu District are due but have been repeatedly postponed due to alleged delays in resettling internally displaced persons. Elections to the remaining 11 local authorities are not due as they had their last election in 2008 or 2009.
Ahamed Jamaldeen Mohamed Muzammil is a Sri Lankan politician, the Mayor of Colombo between 2011 and 2016, he also served as Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia (2017-2019), following which he was appointed the ninth Governor of the Western Province in 2019, the eleventh Governor of the North Western Province, and on 31 August 2020, appointed the thirteenth Governor of the Uva Province.
Deshamanya Edward Lionel Senanayake was a Sri Lankan politician belonging to the United National Party. He was the 12th Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Senanayake was the Governor of North Central Province and Central Province of Sri Lanka. He was elected to the Sri Lankan Parliament from Mahanuwara in Kandy.
Kanagasabai Ganeshalingam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician. He was Mayor of Colombo.
Deshamanya Noel Wimalasena was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and the first Governor of Sabaragamuwa.
The Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council is the local council for Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the administrative capital city of Sri Lanka. The council was first formed as Kotte Urban Development Council which was established in the 1930s and the council became Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council in 1997, Chandra Silva was elected as the first mayor.
George Reginald de Silva was a Ceylonese politician.
Local elections were held in Sri Lanka on 10 February 2018. 15.7 million Sri Lankans were eligible to elect 8,327 members to 340 local authorities. It was the largest election in Sri Lankan history. This was also the first election under the mixed electoral system where 60% of members were elected using first-past-the-post voting and the remaining 40% through closed list proportional representation.
Kusala Vichitra Abhayavardhana was a Sri Lankan social worker. She was the co-founder of the Civil Service International in Sri Lanka, founding secretary International Women’s Year Sri Lanka and national chair of the Women in Peace in Sri Lanka. She was a Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1977.
