List of presidents of Sri Lanka

The President of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive. The president is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene. The current president is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, elected on November 16, 2019.

Presidents

Parties

      United National Party       Sri Lanka Freedom Party       New Democratic Front       Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna       Independent

No.		Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Home province	Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office		Other ministerial offices held while president	Political party of president	Government		Ref.
President (non-executive) (1972-1978)
	1		William Gopallawa විලියම් ගොපල්ලව வில்லியம் கோபள்ளவா (1896–1981) Central	22 May 1972	4 February 1978		Independent	Sirimavo Bandaranaike II	10th
				—
				Served as the last Governor-General of Ceylon and the first (non-executive) President when Ceylon declared itself a republic in 1972, and changed its name to Sri Lanka.
Executive President (1978–present)
	2		Junius Richard Jayewardene ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா (1906–1996) Western	4 February 1978	2 January 1989	Minister of Defence Minister of Planning & Economic Affairs Minister of Plan Implementation & Minister of Higher Education	United National Party	Jayewardene	11th 12th
				1982
				Introduced the Executive Presidency in 1978, and assumed the position of president of Sri Lanka.
	3	75px	Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா (1924–1993) Western	2 January 1989	1 May 1993†	Minister of Defence Minister of Buddha Sasana & Minister of Minister of Policy Planning & Implementation	United National Party	Premadasa	13th
				1988
				Was assassinated during a May Day rally, by an LTTE suicide bomber.
	4		Sri Lankabhimanya Dingiri Banda Wijetunga ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க (1916–2008) Central	1 May 1993	12 November 1994		United National Party	Wijetunga	13th
				—					14th
				Prime Minister at the time of Ranasinghe Premadasa's assassination by LTTE. Appointed as acting president and continued in that capacity until 7 May 1993 when he was elected by Parliament to the office of president under Article 40 of the Constitution.
	5		Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்கே குமாரதுங்கா (1945–) Western	12 November 1994	19 November 2005		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Kumaratunga	14th 15th
				1994, 1999					16th
									17th
				The first non UNP president of the country. Appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, to succeed her as prime minister. Victim of multiple assassination attempts by LTTE, which were all unsuccessful.
	6		Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ மகிந்த ராசபக்ச (1945–) Southern	19 November 2005	9 January 2015	Minister of Defence Minister of Finance Minister of Law & Order & Minister of Highways, Ports & Shipping	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Mahinda Rajapaksa	17th 18th
				2005, 2010
				Ended the 25-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War and LTTE insurgency in the country. Alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Infrastructure Development, Feud with Sarath Fonseka, Eighteenth Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, Impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake, Defeated in 2015 elections.
	7	75px	Maithripala Sirisena මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன (1951–) North Central	9 January 2015	18 November 2019	Minister of Defence Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Sirisena (UNP backed coalition)	18th
				2015					19th
				Defeated Rajapaksa in his bid for unprecedented third term. Mainly backed by United National Party and other opposition parties nominated under New Democratic Front (Sri Lanka). Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.100-day reform program. Reinstated Shirani Bandaranayake as Chief Justice. Promoted Sarath Fonseka to the rank of Field Marshal. Reset foreign relations with India and the United States.
	8	75px	Gotabaya Rajapaksa ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ச (1949–) Southern	18 November 2019	Incumbent	Minister of Defence	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	Gotabaya Rajapaksa I	19th
				2019				Gotabaya Rajapaksa II	20th
				Appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2019 as the prime minister after the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Reappointed Wickremesinghe in 2022, after the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa amidst anti-government protests which demanded his resignation.

Living former presidents

President	Term of office	Date of birth
Chandrika Kumaratunga	1994–2005	(1945-06-29) June 29, 1945
Mahinda Rajapaksa	2005–2015	(1945-11-18) November 18, 1945
Maithripala Sirisena	2015–2019	(1951-09-03) September 3, 1951

The most recent death of a former president was that of Dingiri Banda Wijetunga (1993–1994) on 21 September 2008, aged 92.

Timeline

See also

• Presidential Secretariat
• List of prime ministers of Sri Lanka

External links

General