Prime Minister of Ceylon
He took office as prime minister, cabinet minister of defence external affairs and education when Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was assassinated in September 1959. He led the caretaker government for a year.
Dahanayake contested the March 1960 General Election in Ceylon under the nomination of his newly formed Lanka Prajathanthravadi Pakshaya (Ceylon Democratic Party). He could not be re-elected as an MP, as he had lost his Galle constituency in that election.
He had also served as a cabinet minister of home affairs in Dudley Senanayake's government from 1965 to 1970 and cabinet minister of cooperatives in Junius Richard Jayawardene's government from 1986 to 1988.
Dahanayake died on 4 May 1997 at the age of 94 in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Read more about this topic: Wijeyananda Dahanayake
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