Unchartered Politics of Sri Lanka

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
Sri Lanka

This article is part of a series on the

politics and government of
Sri Lanka

Constitution[show]

Government[show]

Elections[show]

Administrative geography[show]

Foreign relations[show]

Related issues[show]

Sri Lanka portal

 Other countries
 Atlas

 v
 t
 e

Politics of Sri Lanka takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative

democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of
 government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the
government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and Parliament. For decades, the
party system has been dominated by the socialist Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the
conservative United National Party. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the
legislature. The Politics of Sri Lanka reflect the historical and political differences between the three
main ethnic groups, the majority Sinhala and the minorities Tamils and Muslims, who are
concentrated in the north and east of the island.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Sri Lanka as "flawed democracy" in 2016.[1]

Contents

 1Executive branch
 2Legislative branch
 3Political parties and elections
 4Administrative divisions
o 4.1Civil Service Structure
o 4.2Provincial Council structure
o 4.3Local government structure
 5Judicial branch
 6Foreign relations of Sri Lanka
 7Political pressure groups
 8See also
 9References
 10Sources
 11Further reading
 12External links

Executive branch[edit]

Main office holders

Office Name Party Since

Sri Lanka Freedom

President Maithripala Sirisena 9 January 2015
Party

Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime 16 December
United National Party
Minister  Re-appointed amidst a Constitutional 2018
Crisis
The President, directly elected for a six-year term, is head of state, head of government,
and commander in chief of the armed forces. The election occurs under the Sri Lankan form of the
contingent vote. Responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties under the constitution and laws,
the president may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament with the concurrence of
the Supreme Court.
The President appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers responsible to Parliament. The President's
deputy is the prime minister, who leads the ruling party in Parliament. A parliamentary no-confidence
vote requires dissolution of the cabinet and the appointment of a new one by the President.

Legislative branch[edit]
The Parliament has 225 members, elected for a five-year term, 196 members elected in multi-
seat constituencies and 29 by proportional representation.
The primary modification is that the party that receives the largest number of valid votes in each
constituency gains a unique "bonus seat" (see Hickman, 1999). The president may summon,
suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve Parliament any time after it has served for one
year. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws. Since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka
has remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Political parties and elections[edit]

For other political parties, see List of political parties in Sri Lanka. An overview on elections and
election results is included in Elections in Sri Lanka.
In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that Presidential Elections would be held in November
2005, resolving a long-running dispute on the length of President Kumaratunga's term. Mahinda
Rajapaksa was nominated the SLFP candidate and former Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe UNP candidate. The Election was held on November 17, 2005, and Mahinda
Rajapaksa was elected the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka with a 50.3% of valid votes,
compared to Ranil Wickremesinghe's 48.4%. Mahinda Rajapaksa took oath as President on
November 19, 2005. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister on
November 21, 2005, to fill the post vacated by Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was previously Prime
Minister from 2000 until 2001 .

e•d Summary of the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election[2]

Candidate Party Votes %

Maithripala Sirisena New Democratic Front 6,217,162 51.28%

United People's Freedom

Mahinda Rajapaksa 5,768,090 47.58%
Alliance

Patriotic National Front 18,174 0.15%

Ratnayake Arachchige
Sirisena

Namal Ajith Rajapaksa Our National Front 15,726 0.13%

Maulawi Ibrahim Mohanmed

United Peace Front 14,379 0.12%
Mishlar

A. S. P. Liyanage Sri Lanka Labour Party 14,351 0.12%

United Lanka People's

Ruwanthileke Peduru 12,436 0.10%
Party

Aithurus M. Illias Independent 10,618 0.09%

Duminda Nagamuwa Frontline Socialist Party 9,941 0.08%

Siritunga Jayasuriya United Socialist Party 8,840 0.07%

Sarath Manamendra New Sinhala Heritage 6,875 0.06%

Pani Wijesiriwardene Socialist Equality Party 4,277 0.04%

Anurudha Polgampola Independent 4,260 0.04%

Sundaram Mahendran Nava Sama Samaja Party 4,047 0.03%

Muthu Bandara All Are Citizens, All Are

3,846 0.03%
Theminimulla Kings Organisation

Battaramulle Seelarathana Jana Setha Peramuna 3,750 0.03%

 Democratic National
Prasanna Priyankara 2,793 0.02%
Movement

United Lanka Great

Jayantha Kulathunga 2,061 0.02%
Council

Wimal Geeganage Sri Lanka National Front 1,826 0.02%

100.00
Valid votes 12,123,452
%

Rejected votes 140,925

Total polled 12,264,377

Registered electors 15,044,490

Turnout 81.52%

Summary of the 2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election[3][4]

Seats

Distric
National Total
Alliances and parties Votes % t

5,098,91 45.66% 93 13 106

United National
6
Front for Good
Governance[iii][show]
 4,732,66 42.38% 83 12 95
United People's
4
Freedom
Alliance[show]

515,963 4.62% 14 2 16
Tamil National
Alliance[vii][show]

Janatha Vimukthi
543,944 4.87% 4 2 6
Peramuna

Sri Lanka Muslim

44,193 0.40% 1 0 1
Congress[ii]

Eelam People's
33,481 0.30% 1 0 1
Democratic Party

Independents 42,828 0.38% 0 0 0

All Ceylon Makkal

33,102 0.30% 0 0 0
Congress[i]

Democratic Party 28,587 0.26% 0 0 0

20,377 0.18% 0 0 0
Buddhist People's
Front[show]

18,644 0.17% 0 0 0
Tamil National
People's
Front[viii][show]
 Ceylon Workers'
17,107 0.15% 0 0 0
Congress[iv]

Frontline Socialist
7,349 0.07% 0 0 0
Party

United People's
5,353 0.05% 0 0 0
Party

Others 24,467 0.22% 0 0 0

11,166,9 100.00
Valid Votes 196 29 225
75 %

Rejected Votes 517,123 4.43%

11,684,0
Total Polled 77.66%
98

15,044,4
Registered Electors
90

Footnotes:[show]

Administrative divisions[edit]
Local government is divided into two parallel structures, the civil service, which dates to
colonial times, and the provincial councils, which were established in 1987.
Civil Service Structure[edit]
The country is divided into 25 districts, each of which has a district secretary (the GA, or
Government Agent) who is appointed. Each district comprises 5–16 divisions, each with
a DS, or divisional secretary, again, appointed. At a village level Grama Niladari (Village
Officers), Samurdhi Niladari (Development Officers) and agriculture extension officers
work for the DSs.
Provincial Council structure[edit]
Under the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of July 1987—and the resulting 13th amendment to
the constitution—the Government of Sri Lanka agreed to devolve some authority to
the provinces. Provincial councils are directly elected for 5-year terms. The leader of the
council majority serves as the province's Chief Minister with a board of ministers; a
provincial governor is appointed by the president.
The Provincial Councils have full statute making power with respect to the Provincial
Council List, and shared statute making power respect to the Concurrent List. While all
matters set out in the Reserved List are under the central government.
Local government structure[edit]
Main article: Local government in Sri Lanka

Below the provincial level are elected Municipal Councils and Urban Councils,
responsible for municipalities and cities respectively, and below this level Pradeshiya
Sabhas (village councils), again elected. There are: 18 Municipal Councils: Sri
Jayawardanapura Kotte, Kaduwela, Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, Galle, Matara, Dehiwala-
Mount Lavinia, Anuradhapura, Gampaha, Moratuwa, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Nuwara
Eliya, Badulla, Batticaloa, Kalmune, Negombo. 42 Urban Councils: 270 Pradeshiya
Sabhas: (The above statistics include the new local government authorities established
by the government in January 2006.)