Presidents
- Parties
United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Independent
| # | Name | Portrait | Entered office | Left Office | Political party | Notable events and achievements | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Gopallawa |
22 May 1972 | 4 February 1978 | Non-party | Gopallawa was 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. | ||
| 2 | Junius Richard Jayewardene |
4 February 1978 | 2 January 1989 | United National Party | Jayewardene introduced the Executive Presidency in 1978, and assumed the position of President of Sri Lanka. | ||
| 3 | Ranasinghe Premadasa |
2 January 1989 | 1 May 1993 | United National Party | Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed during a May Day rally, by an LTTE suicide bomber. | ||
| 4 | Dingiri Banda Wijetunga |
2 May 1993 | 12 November 1994 | United National Party | Wijetunga was appointed as president after Ranasinghe Premadasa's assassination by LTTE. | ||
| 5 | Chandrika Kumaratunga |
12 November 1994 | 19 November 2005 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
Chandrika Kumarathunga became the first non-UNP president of the country. she's also a victim of assassination attempts by LTTE, which were all unsuccessful. | ||
| 6 | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
19 November 2005 | Incumbent | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
Mahinda Rajapaksha ended 25 year long civil war and LTTE terrorism in the country. | ||
Read more about this topic: List Of Presidents Of Sri Lanka
Famous quotes containing the word presidents:
“A president, however, must stand somewhat apart, as all great presidents have known instinctively. Then the language which has the power to survive its own utterance is the most likely to move those to whom it is immediately spoken.”
—J.R. Pole (b. 1922)
“Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omission of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
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—D.H. (David Herbert)