Leader of the Opposition (Sri Lanka)
Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka ශ්රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் | |
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since 3 January 2020 | |
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
[edit]Salary
[edit]In 2016, the Leader of the Opposition received a salary month and other entitlements of a Member of Parliament.[3]
Other privileges
[edit]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
[edit]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)
[edit]- 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 | ![]() |
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 | ![]() |
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 | ![]() |
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 | ![]() |
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 | Incumbent | 1690 | |||
16th | |||||||||
Wickremesinghe |
References
[edit]- ^ 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
[edit]- Parliament of Sri Lanka - Handbook of Parliament, Leaders of the Opposition