Leader of the Opposition (Sri Lanka)
| Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka ශ්රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் | |
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| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Parliament of Sri Lanka |
| Term length | While leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government |
| Inaugural holder | N. M. Perera |
| Formation | 14 October 1947 |
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In Sri Lanka, the leader of the opposition is the leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not a part of the government. This is usually the leader of the second-largest party in Parliament.
Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa has been the incumbent leader of the opposition in the Parliament since 3 January 2020. He was officially sworn in on 20 August 2020, after the speaker announced his appointment in parliament.[1][2]
Privileges of office
Salary
In 2016, the leader of the opposition received a salary month and other entitlements of a Member of Parliament.[3]
Other privileges
The leader of the opposition is entitled to an official residence, office, transport and security equal that of a Cabinet Minister.[4][5]
Order of precedence
In the Sri Lankan order of precedence, the leader of the opposition is ranked at the level of a Cabinet Minister in the order of precedence.
List of leaders of the opposition
- Parties
Lanka Sama Samaja Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party United National Party Tamil United Liberation Front Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Samagi Jana Balawegaya
| No. (Terms) |
Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Political party | Term of office | Parliament (Election) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Days | ||||||
| 1 | N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979) |
Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 14 October 1947 | 8 April 1952 | 1638 | 1st (1947) | ||
| 2 | .jpg) |
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike එස්. ඩබ්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක (1899–1959) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 June 1952 | 18 February 1956 | 1349 | 2nd (1952) | |
| (1) | N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979) |
Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 19 April 1956 | 5 December 1959 | 1325 | 3rd (1956) | ||
| 3 |  |
C. P. de Silva සී. පී. ද සිල්වා (1912–1972) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 30 March 1960 | 23 April 1960 | 24 | 4th (Mar 1960) | |
| 4 | .jpg) |
Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක (1911–1973) |
United National Party | 5 August 1960 | 17 December 1964 | 1595 | 5th (Jul 1960) | |
| 5 | _(Hon.Sirimavo_Bandaranaike_with_Hon.Lalith_Athulathmudali_Crop).jpg) |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 5 April 1965 | 25 March 1970 | 1815 | 6th (1965) | |
| 6 | .jpg) |
J. R. Jayewardene ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන (1906–1996) |
United National Party | 7 June 1970 | 18 May 1977 | 2537 | 7th (1970) | |
| 7 | |
A. Amirthalingam அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கம் (1927–1989) |
Tamil United Liberation Front | 4 August 1977 | 24 October 1983 | 2272 | 8th (1977) | |
| Office vacant | 24 October 1983 | 8 November 1983 | 15 | |||||
| 8 |  |
Anura Bandaranaike අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක (1949–2008) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 8 November 1983 | 20 December 1988 | 1869 | ||
| (5) | |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 March 1989 | 24 June 1994 | 1902 | 9th (1989) | |
| 9 |  |
Gamini Dissanayake ගාමිණි දිසානායක (1942–1994) |
United National Party | 25 August 1994 | 24 October 1994 | 60 | 10th (1994) | |
| Office vacant | 24 October 1994 | 28 October 1994 | 4 | |||||
| 10 |  |
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
United National Party | 28 October 1994 | 10 October 2001 | 2549 | ||
| 11th (2000) | ||||||||
| 11 |  |
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක (1933–2016) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 18 December 2001 | 31 January 2002 | 44 | 12th (2001) | |
| Office vacant | 31 January 2002 | 6 February 2002 | 6 | |||||
| 12 |  |
Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 6 February 2002 | 7 February 2004 | 730 | ||
| (10) | |
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
United National Party | 22 April 2004 | 9 January 2015 | 3914 | 13th (2004) | |
| 14th (2010) | ||||||||
| Office vacant | 9 January 2015 | 16 January 2015 | 7 | |||||
| 13 |  |
Nimal Siripala de Silva නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා (born 1944) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 16 January 2015 | 26 June 2015 | 161 | ||
| 14 |  |
R. Sampanthan இரா. சம்பந்தன் (1933–2024) |
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi | 3 September 2015 | 18 December 2018 | 1202 | 15th (2015) | |
| (12) | |
Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945) |
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 18 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | 338 | ||
| Office vacant | 21 November 2019 | 3 January 2020 | 43 | |||||
| 15 | .png) |
Sajith Premadasa සජිත් ප්රේමදාස (born 1967) |
Samagi Jana Balawegaya | 3 January 2020 | Incumbent | 2430 | ||
| 16th (2020) | ||||||||
| 17th (2024) | ||||||||
List of leaders of the opposition by length of term
| No. | Name | Party | No. of terms | Length of term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest continuous term | Total duration of leadership | |||||
| 1 | Ranil Wickremesinghe | UNP | 2 | 10 years, 262 days | 17 years, 258 days | |
| 2 | Sirimavo Bandaranaike | SLFP | 2 | 5 years, 107 days | 10 years, 67 days | |
| 3 | N. M. Perera | LSSP | 2 | 4 years, 177 days | 8 years, 43 days | |
| 4 | J. R. Jayewardene | UNP | 1 | 6 years, 345 days | 6 years, 345 days | |
| 5 | Sajith Premadasa | SJB | 1 | 6 years, 238 days | 6 years, 238 days | |
| 6 | A. Amirthalingam | TULF | 1 | 6 years, 81 days | 6 years, 81 days | |
| 7 | Anura Bandaranaike | SLFP | 1 | 5 years, 42 days | 5 years, 42 days | |
| 8 | Dudley Senanayake | UNP | 1 | 4 years, 134 days | 4 years, 134 days | |
| 9 | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike | SLFP | 1 | 3 years, 244 days | 3 years, 244 days | |
| 10 | R. Sampanthan | ITAK | 1 | 3 years, 106 days | 3 years, 106 days | |
| 11 | Mahinda Rajapaksa | SLFP/SLPP | 2 | 2 years, 1 day | 2 years, 338 days | |
| 12 | Nimal Siripala de Silva | SLFP | 1 | 161 days | 161 days | |
| 13 | Gamini Dissanayake | UNP | 1 | 60 days | 60 days | |
| 14 | Ratnasiri Wickremanayake | SLFP | 1 | 44 days | 44 days | |
| 15 | C. P. de Silva | SLFP | 1 | 24 days | 24 days | |
See also
References
- ↑ Srinivasan, Meera (5 December 2019). "Sajith Premadasa named Opposition leader in Sri Lanka". The Hindu.
- ↑ "Sri Lanka : Speaker to officially announce appointment of Opposition Leader when parliament convenes in January". www.colombopage.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06.
- ↑ Of Ministers’ Salaries And Parliamentary Perks
- ↑ No official residence for Opposition Leader
- ↑ Sampanthan finally gets official residence!
External links
- Parliament of Sri Lanka - Handbook of Parliament, Leaders of the Opposition