List of prime ministers of Sri Lanka


There have been fourteen Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka since the creation of the position in 1947, prior to the formation of the Dominion of Ceylon. The Prime Minister of Ceylon was the head of the government until 1972. In 1972, the country was named as the Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka and the position was known as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from then onwards. The Prime Minister also held the unified Ministry of External Affairs and Defence until 1977, when J.R. Jayewardene's government adapted two separate ministries, forming the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1978, Prime Minister J.R. Jayewardene introduced new constitutional changes. The position of the Executive President was introduced, resulting in the powers of the Prime Minister being reduced. The President became the head of state and head of government, and the Prime Minister became a nominal position.
Under the current constitution of Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister is the leader of the Cabinet business and also functions as a deputy to the President. In the event a president dies in office, the Prime Minister becomes the acting president until the Parliament convenes to elect a successor or new elections can be held to elect a new president. This was the case in 1993, when President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated and Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunge took office as President.
On 28 April 2015, the Parliament approved the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka which gives the power of the Government to the Prime Minister, while the President remains the head of state, head of the cabinet, and Commander-in-chief.
Of the fourteen prime ministers who have held the office since the introduction of the position in 1947, one has held the office four times, two have held office thrice, and two have held office twice. Five prime ministers have gone on to become president of the country.
Ranil Wickramasinghe has been sworn in as prime minister the most times in the country's history, on five separate occasions, whilst Dudley Shelton Senanayaka and Sirimavo Bandaranayake were appointed three times. Mahinda Rajapakse is the only Prime Minister who was suspended from his duties by the Supreme Courts. becoming Sri Lanka's 1st De Fecto Prime Minister in 2018.

List of Prime Ministers

;Parties

Living former Prime Ministers

Prime MinisterTerm of officeDate of birth
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga1994–1994
Ranil Wickremesinghe1993-1994,
2001-2004,
2015-2019
The most recent death of a former Prime Minister was that of D. M. Jayaratne on 19 November 2019, aged 88.

Timeline


Define $ar = shift: align:center
Define $sr = shift: align:left
Define $sl = shift: align:right
Define $fs = fontsize: 8
Define $end = 31/12/2039
Define $ini = 01/01/1945
  1. Do not use legends with the same beginning like "President" and "President_elected"
Colors =
id:unitednp value:green legend: United_National_Party
id:srilankafp value:darkblue legend: Sri_Lanka_Freedom_Party
id:slpp value:rgb legend: Sri_Lanka_Podujana_Peramuna
id:liteline value:gray
id:line value:rgb
id:bg value:white
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:400
Period = from:$ini till:$end
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = left:1 bottom:20 top:2 right:0
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:$ini
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:liteline unit:year increment:1 start:$ini
Legend = left:20 top:100
PlotData=
width:8 align:center
bar:01 from:24/09/1947 till:22/03/1952 color:unitednp text:"Don Stephen Senanayake" $sr $fs
bar:02 from:26/03/1952 till:12/10/1953 color:unitednp text:"Dudley Senanayake" $sr $fs
bar:03 from:12/10/1953 till:12/04/1956 color:unitednp text:"John Kotelawala" $sr $fs
bar:04 from:12/04/1956 till:26/09/1959 color:srilankafp text:"S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike" $sr $fs
bar:05 from:26/09/1959 till:20/03/1960 color:srilankafp text:"Wijeyananda Dahanayake" $sr $fs
bar:06 from:21/03/1960 till:21/07/1960 color:unitednp text:"Dudley Senanayake" $sr $fs
bar:07 from:21/07/1960 till:25/03/1965 color:srilankafp text:"Sirimavo Bandaranaike" $sr $fs
bar:08 from:25/03/1965 till:29/05/1970 color:unitednp text:"Dudley Senanayake" $sr $fs
bar:09 from:29/05/1970 till:22/05/1972 color:srilankafp text:"Sirimavo Bandaranaike" $sr $fs
bar:10 from:22/05/1972 till:23/07/1977 color:srilankafp text:"Sirimavo Bandaranaike" $sr $fs
bar:11 from:23/07/1977 till:04/02/1978 color:unitednp text:"Junius Richard Jayewardene" $sr $fs
bar:12 from:06/02/1978 till:02/01/1989 color:unitednp text:"Ranasinghe Premadasa" $sr $fs
bar:13 from:06/03/1989 till:07/05/1993 color:unitednp text:"Dingiri Banda Wijetunga" $sr $fs
bar:14 from:07/05/1993 till:19/08/1994 color:unitednp text:"Ranil Wickremesinghe" $sr $fs
bar:15 from:19/08/1994 till:12/11/1994 color:srilankafp text:"Chandrika Kumaratunga" $sr $fs
bar:16 from:12/11/1994 till:09/08/2000 color:srilankafp text:"Sirimavo Bandaranaike" $sr $fs
bar:17 from:09/08/2000 till:07/12/2001 color:srilankafp text:"Ratnasiri Wickremanayake" $sr $fs
bar:18 from:09/12/2001 till:06/04/2004 color:unitednp text:"Ranil Wickremesinghe" $sr $fs
bar:19 from:06/04/2004 till:19/11/2005 color:srilankafp text:"Mahinda Rajapaksa" $sr $fs
bar:20 from:19/11/2005 till:21/04/2010 color:srilankafp text:"Ratnasiri Wickremanayake" $sr $fs
bar:21 from:21/04/2010 till:09/01/2015 color:srilankafp text:"D. M. Jayaratne" $sr $fs
bar:22 from:09/01/2015 till:26/10/2018 color:unitednp text:"Ranil Wickremesinghe" $sr $fs
bar:23 from:26/10/2018 till:15/12/2018 color:slpp text:"Mahinda Rajapaksa" $sr $fs
bar:24 from:15/12/2018 till:20/11/2019 color:unitednp text:"Ranil Wickremesinghe" $sr $fs
bar:25 from:21/11/2019 till:01/04/2020 color:slpp text:"Mahinda Rajapaksa" $sr $fs