POLITICS
Summary Sri Lanka has a long-standing democratic tradition. D.S. Senanayake became the first prime minister in 1947. After his death in 1952, his son Dudley Senanayake briefly held the reins of the government. In 1956 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike of the Sri Lanka Freedom party was elected as prime minister in a landslide victory. His administration promised social change as well as economic independence, but it was plagued by warring factions in the government.
The post of Governor General were held in succession by Sir Henry Moore, Sir Oliver Goonetilaka, Sir John Kotalawala and William Gopallawa. Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959, and his widow was elected as his successor in 1960. Sirimavo Bandaranaike dominated the politics of the island until 1977, when she was unseated by J.R. Jayawardene of the United National party.
Under a new constitution adopted in 1972, Sri Lanka became a socialist republic. In 1978 an amendment changed the parliamentary form of government to a French-style presidential system. The popularly elected president is the head of state, chief executive, and commander in chief of the armed forces. Jayawardene, the first president, was re-elected in 1982. He stepped down in January 1989 and was replaced by Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa, who had been elected president in December 1988 following three months of violence. The violence escalated, and in 1989 Amnesty International estimated that more than 1,000 people each month were killed.
Details On February 4, 1948, the colony became an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations; Sir Henry Moore was installed as governor-general and D. S. Senanayake, leader of the United National party (UNP), became prime minister. An ancient Sinhalese flag was adopted as the flag of the new state.
The foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Nations assembled at Colombo in January 1950, and drafted a tentative plan for the economic development of Southeast Asia. As finally formulated, the Colombo Plan allocated nearly $340 million of Commonwealth funds for a variety of projects designed to advance the Sri Lankan economy, notably irrigation works and hydroelectric plants. When D. S. Senanayake died in 1952, his son, Dudley Senanayake, who belonged to the same party, was named prime minister. In 1954 Sri Lanka declined to join the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, which was formed as a defensive alliance by the United States, Great Britain, and six other nations. On December 14, 1955, the republic of Sri Lanka was admitted to membership in the United Nations.
The UNP lost the elections held in April 1956, and Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom party, became prime minister. Sri Lanka subsequently adopted a policy of neutrality in the disputes between the Communist and non-Communist countries. The United
States agreed in early 1958 to provide the country with technical assistance and a grant of about $780,000 for economic projects. The Soviet Union and Sri Lanka signed trade and economic agreements at about the same time. Shortly afterward the country accepted a loan of about $10.5 million from China.
On September 25, 1959, Prime Minister Bandaranaike was shot by a Buddhist monk and died the following day. In the general elections of March 19, 1960, the UNP won the greatest number of votes, and two days later Dudley Senanayake again became prime minister in a minority cabinet, which quickly
lost parliamentary confidence. New general elections held on July 20 resulted in the victory of the Sri Lanka Freedom party now led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, widow of the late prime minister, and she was sworn in as prime minister the next day.
On December 31, 1960, a bill was passed making Sinhalese the only official language of the country. Representatives of the Tamil-speaking minority led mass demonstrations against the measure in early 1961. To cope with the situation, a state of emergency was declared, the Tamil Federal party was forbidden to operate, and strikes were declared illegal. Sinhalese-Tamil relations continued to be strained until January 1966, when Tamil was made the official administrative language in the northern and eastern parts of the island.
With the nation in a period of economic decline, Dudley Senanayake was returned to power in the 1965 legislative elections. His policy of nonalignment, economic development, and increased domestic production did not satisfy the voters, as high unemployment, food shortages, and labor unrest continued. In 1970 a leftist coalition headed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike won the elections; the new government began to move the country toward socialism. In March 1971 a brief but violent armed revolt took place, sparked by leaders of the Marxist-oriented People's Liberation Front. By September, the Bandaranaike government had almost completely suppressed the rebellion. In that month the Senate was abolished and the House of Representatives was renamed the National Assembly. On May 22, 1972, the country, until then known as Ceylon, officially became the socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, when the assembly adopted a new constitution. Bandaranaike continued as prime minister, and William Gopallawa was appointed president.
In 1977 Bandaranaike's government was decisively defeated at the polls. She was replaced as prime minister by Junius R. Jayawardene, leader of the UNP. His government in 1978 replaced the 1972 constitution with one providing for an executive president, an office which Jayawardene then assumed. Reversing the socialist trend of his predecessor, he achieved some initial economic gains. By 1980, however, inflation and falling wages led to a general strike, which the government thwarted only by calling out troops. Later in the year Bandaranaike was expelled from the National Assembly and barred from voting or standing for election for seven years. The supreme court had previously found her to have abused her power during her years as prime minister. Jayawardene won re-election to a second six-year presidential term in October 1982. Subsequently, in December, a government proposal to extend the life of parliament until 1989 was approved by popular referendum.
In 1983 a civil war began between the Sinhalese-dominated government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE is a group that seeks to create a separate nation for the Tamil minority in the northern and eastern portions of Sri Lanka. In June 1987, after an agreement with Jayewardene, Indian troops moved into northern Sri Lanka to enforce a peace agreement between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. Warfare subsided, and Jayewardene retired in 1988.
Ranasinghe Premadasa was elected to succeed him that year, defeating Bandaranaike. Premadasa's UNP retained its majority in the parliamentary elections of February 1989, and the last Indian troops departed in March. The period of relative peace was short-lived. In 1991 and 1992 several major battles were fought between the army and the LTTE, and in early 1993 the government was rocked by two assassinations. On April 23 Lalith Athulathmudali, who had founded the opposition Democratic United Liberation Front in 1991, was shot to death during a political rally. A week later, during the annual May Day parade, President Premadasa was assassinated by a suicide bomber who allegedly was a member of LTTE. Days later the Parliament unanimously elected UNP member Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, who previously was the premier, to serve as president until the next national election.
In November 1993 LTTE forces managed to seize a government military base in Pooneryn, which is about 32 km (20 miles) southeast of Jaffna. Several days later government forces drove the rebel forces back, and recovered the base. The fighting was some of the worst between the Sri Lankan government and rebel Tamil forces; the Sri Lankan government estimated that about 1200 people were missing or killed. Since fighting between the two groups began in 1983, more than 18,000 people have been killed.
In parliamentary elections held in August 1994, the People's Alliance party defeated the UNP, and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became prime minister. By January 1995 Chandrika is elected as President and her mother Sirimavo Bandaranaike again has become the new prime minister.
Chief of State
The chief of state and head of government of Sri Lanka is a president, who is elected directly to a term of six years. The president appoints the prime minister and members of the cabinet, and may dismiss parliament at will.
Legislature
According to the 1978 Sri Lanka constitution, the unicameral parliament is the "legislative power of the people." The 225 members of parliament are elected directly by a system of proportional representation.
Political Parties
The major political party in Sri Lanka is the United National party (UNP), a democratic socialist party. Other parties include the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) and several Tamil separatist groups.
Local Government
Sri Lanka is divided into 24 administrative districts. Each district is presided over by an appointed district minister. Other local government units include 12 municipal councils and 39 urban councils.
Bandaranaike, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias (1899-1959), prime minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; 1956-59), born in Colombo. As a young lawyer he became active in the United National party (UNP) and from 1931 to 1951 served the party in legislative and ministerial posts. He then broke with the UNP, organized the Sri Lanka Freedom party, and in 1952 became the leader of the opposition. Winning the 1956 elections at the head of a four-party coalition, he became prime minister. As such, Bandaranaike made Sinhalese, instead of English, the official language of the country and promoted socialist, non Western policies that profoundly changed the course of Ceylonese politics in the following decades. He was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959, and his wife, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, assumed leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom party.
To reduce foreign influence in Ceylon, which was ruled by Britain until 1948, Bandaranaike replaced English with Sinhalese as the nation's official languageShe also moved to place opposition newspapers under government control and attempted to mediate the 1962 border dispute between India and China.
Economic decline and social unrest led to her party's defeat in the March 1965 elections and to her resignation as prime minister. However, a victory in the May 1970 elections returned her to office at the head of a coalition government. The failure of her policies to remedy widespread unemployment and other economic problems led to her defeat in the 1977 elections. In 1980 she was convicted of misuse of power and expelled from Parliament. The former prime minister suffered another defeat in the 1988 elections.
In parliamentary elections held in August 1994, the People's Alliance party defeated the UNP, and the daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became prime minister. By January 1995 Chandrika is elected as President and her mother Sirimavo Bandaranaike again has become the new prime minister.