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 |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Sri Lanka |
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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.
Leaders of the Opposition (1947–present)
- Parties
Lanka Sama Samaja Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party United National Party Tamil United Liberation Front Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Samagi Jana Balawegaya
| No. (Terms) |
Opposition Leader | Political party | Term of office | Government | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
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 | D. S. Senanayake | 1st | |
| Dudley Senanayake I | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 8 April 1952 | 9 June 1952 | 62 | – | |||||
| 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 | ||
| Kotelawala | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 18 February 1956 | 19 April 1956 | 61 | – | |||||
| S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike | 3rd | ||||||||
| (1) |
|
N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979) |
Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 19 April 1956 | 5 December 1959 | 1325 | |||
| Dahanayake | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 5 December 1959 | 30 March 1960 | 116 | – | |||||
| Dudley Senanayake II | – | ||||||||
| 3 |
|
C. P. de Silva සී. පී. ද සිල්වා (1912–1972) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 30 March 1960 | 23 April 1960 | 24 | 4th | ||
| Office vacant | 23 April 1960 | 5 August 1960 | 104 | – | |||||
| Sirimavo Bandaranayake I | – | ||||||||
| 4 | .jpg)
|
Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක (1911–1973) |
United National Party | 5 August 1960 | 17 December 1964 | 1595 | 5th | ||
| Office vacant | 17 December 1964 | 5 April 1965 | 109 | – | |||||
| Dudley Senanayake III | – | ||||||||
| 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 | ||
| Office vacant | 25 March 1970 | 7 June 1970 | 74 | – | |||||
| Sirimavo Bandaranayake II | – | ||||||||
| 6 | .jpg)
|
J. R. Jayewardene ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන (1906–1996) |
United National Party | 7 June 1970 | 18 May 1977 | 2537 | 7th | ||
| Office vacant | 18 May 1977 | 4 August 1977 | 78 | – | |||||
| Jayewardene | – | ||||||||
| 7 |
|
A. Amirthalingam அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கம் (1927–1989) |
Tamil United Liberation Front | 4 August 1977 | 24 October 1983 | 2272 | 8th | ||
| 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 | |||
| Office vacant | 20 December 1988 | 9 March 1989 | 79 | – | |||||
| Premadasa | – | ||||||||
| (5) |
|
Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 March 1989 | 24 June 1994 | 1902 | 9th | ||
| Wijetunga | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 24 June 1994 | 25 August 1994 | 62 | – | |||||
| 9 | 
|
Gamini Dissanayake ගාමිණි දිසානායක (1942–1994) |
United National Party | 25 August 1994 | 24 October 1994 | 60 | 10th | ||
| Office vacant | 24 October 1994 | 28 October 1994 | 4 | ||||||
| Kumaratunga | |||||||||
| 10 | 
|
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
United National Party | 28 October 1994 | 10 October 2001 | 2549 | 10th 11th | ||
| Office vacant | 10 October 2001 | 18 December 2001 | 69 | – | |||||
| 11 | 
|
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක (1933–2016) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 18 December 2001 | 31 January 2002 | 378 | 12th | ||
| 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 | |||
| Office vacant | 7 February 2004 | 22 April 2004 | 75 | – | |||||
| (10) |
|
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
United National Party | 22 April 2004 | 9 January 2015 | 3914 | 13th | ||
| Mahinda Rajapaksa | 14th | ||||||||
| Office vacant | 9 January 2015 | 16 January 2015 | 7 | Sirisena I | |||||
| 13 | 
|
Nimal Siripala de Silva නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා (born 1944) |
Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 16 January 2015 | 26 June 2015 | 130 | |||
| Office vacant | 26 June 2015 | 3 September 2015 | 69 | – | |||||
| 14 | 
|
R. Sampanthan இரா. சம்பந்தன் (1933–2024) |
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi | 3 September 2015 | 18 December 2018 | 1202 | Sirisena II | 15th | |
| (12) |
|
Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945) |
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 18 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | 338 | Sirisena IV | ||
| Office vacant | 21 November 2019 | 3 January 2020 | 43 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | |||||
| 15 |
|
Sajith Premadasa සජිත් ප්රේමදාස (born 1967) |
Samagi Jana Balawegaya | 3 January 2020 | 23 September 2024 | 1725 | |||
| 16th | |||||||||
| Wickremesinghe | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 23 September 2024 | 21 November 2024 | 59 | Aunura Kumara Dissnayake | |||||
| (15) |
|
Sajith Premadasa සජිත් ප්රේමදාස (born 1967) |
Samagi Jana Balawegaya | 21 November 2024 | Incumbent | 0 | |||
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