| Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka ශ්රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் | |
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| Style | The Honourable |
| Member of | Parliament of Sri Lanka |
| Appointer | Largest political party in Parliament that is not in government |
| Term length | While leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government |
| Inaugural holder | N. M. Perera |
| Formation | 14 October 1947 |
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In Sri Lanka, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government. This is usually the leader of the second-largest party in Parliament. Sajith Premadasa officially took office as Leader of the Opposition on August 20, 2020, after Speaker announces the appointment in parliament.[1][2]
Privileges of office
Salary
In 2016, the Leader of the Opposition received a salary month and other entitlements of a Member of Parliament.[3]
Other privileges
The leader of the opposition is entitled to an official residence, office, transport and security equal that of a Cabinet Minister.[4][5]
Order of precedence
In the Sri Lankan order of precedence, the leader of the opposition is ranked at the level of a Cabinet Minister in the order of precedence.
Leaders of the Opposition (1947–present)
- Parties
United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Lanka Sama Samaja Party Tamil United Liberation Front Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Samagi Jana Balawegaya
| No. (Terms) |
Opposition Leader | Term of office | Political Party | Government | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Took office | Left office | Days | |||||
| 1 | ![]() |
N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979) |
14 October 1947 | 8 April 1952 | 1638 | Lanka Sama Samaja Party | D. S. Senanayake | 1st | |
| Dudley Senanayake | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 8 April 1952 | 9 June 1952 | 62 | – | – | ||||
| 2 | ![]() |
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike එස්. ඩබ්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක (1899–1959) |
9 June 1952 | 18 February 1956 | 1349 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 2nd | ||
| John Kotelawala | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 18 February 1956 | 19 April 1956 | 61 | – | – | ||||
| S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike | – | ||||||||
| (1) | ![]() |
N. M. Perera ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා (1905–1979) |
19 April 1956 | 5 December 1959 | 1325 | Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 3rd | ||
| Wijeyananda Dahanayake | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 5 December 1959 | 30 March 1960 | 116 | – | – | ||||
| Dudley Senanayake | – | ||||||||
| 3 | ![]() |
C. P. de Silva සී. පී. ද සිල්වා (1912–1972) |
30 March 1960 | 23 April 1960 | 24 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 4th | ||
| Office vacant | 23 April 1960 | 5 August 1960 | 104 | – | – | ||||
| Sirimavo Bandaranayake | – | ||||||||
| 4 | ![]() |
Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක (1911–1973) |
5 August 1960 | 17 December 1964 | 1595 | United National Party | 5th | ||
| Office vacant | 17 December 1964 | 5 April 1965 | 109 | – | – | ||||
| Dudley Senanayake | – | ||||||||
| 5 | ![]() |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) |
5 April 1965 | 25 March 1970 | 1815 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 6th | ||
| Office vacant | 25 March 1970 | 7 June 1970 | 74 | – | – | ||||
| Sirimavo Bandaranayake | – | ||||||||
| 6 | ![]() |
J. R. Jayewardene ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන (1906–1996) |
7 June 1970 | 18 May 1977 | 2537 | United National Party | 7th | ||
| Office vacant | 18 May 1977 | 4 August 1977 | 78 | – | – | ||||
| J. R. Jayewardene | – | ||||||||
| 7 | ![]() |
A. Amirthalingam அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கம் (1927–1989) |
4 August 1977 | 24 October 1983 | 2272 | Tamil United Liberation Front | 8th | ||
| Office vacant | 24 October 1983 | 8 November 1983 | 15 | – | |||||
| 8 | ![]() |
Anura Bandaranaike අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක (1949–2008) |
8 November 1983 | 20 December 1988 | 1869 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | |||
| Office vacant | 20 December 1988 | 9 March 1989 | 79 | – | – | ||||
| Ranasinghe Premadasa | – | ||||||||
| (5) | ![]() |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) |
9 March 1989 | 24 June 1994 | 1902 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9th | ||
| Dingiri Banda Wijetunga | |||||||||
| Office vacant | 24 June 1994 | 25 August 1994 | 62 | – | – | ||||
| 9 | ![]() |
Gamini Dissanayake ගාමිණි දිසානායක (1942–1994) |
25 August 1994 | 24 October 1994 | 60 | United National Party | 10th | ||
| Office vacant | 24 October 1994 | 28 October 1994 | 4 | – | |||||
| Chandrika Kumaratunga | |||||||||
| 10 | ![]() |
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
28 October 1994 | 10 October 2001 | 2549 | United National Party | 10th 11th | ||
| Office vacant | 10 October 2001 | 18 December 2001 | 69 | – | – | ||||
| 11 | ![]() |
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක (1933–2016) |
18 December 2001 | 31 January 2002 | 378 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 12th | ||
| Office vacant | 31 January 2002 | 6 February 2002 | 6 | – | |||||
| 12 | ![]() |
Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945) |
6 February 2002 | 7 February 2004 | 730 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | |||
| Office vacant | 7 February 2004 | 22 April 2004 | 75 | – | – | ||||
| (10) | ![]() |
Ranil Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ (born 1949) |
22 April 2004 | 9 January 2015 | 3914 | United National Party | 13th | ||
| Mahinda Rajapaksa | 14th | ||||||||
| Office vacant | 9 January 2015 | 16 January 2015 | 7 | – | Maithripala Sirisena | ||||
| 13 | ![]() |
Nimal Siripala de Silva නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා (born 1944) |
16 January 2015 | 26 June 2015 | 130 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | |||
| Office vacant | 26 June 2015 | 3 September 2015 | 69 | – | – | ||||
| 14 | ![]() |
R. Sampanthan இரா. சம்பந்தன் (born 1933) |
3 September 2015 | 18 December 2018 | 1202 | Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi | 15th | ||
| (12) | ![]() |
Mahinda Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ (born 1945) |
18 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | 338 | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | |||
| Office vacant | 21 November 2019 | 3 January 2020 | 43 | – | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | ||||
| 15 | ![]() |
Sajith Premadasa සජිත් ප්රේමදාස (born 1967) |
3 January 2020 | Incumbent | 1471 | Samagi Jana Balawegaya | |||
| 16th | |||||||||
| Ranil Wickremesinghe | |||||||||
References
- ↑ Srinivasan, Meera (5 December 2019). "Sajith Premadasa named Opposition leader in Sri Lanka". The Hindu.
- ↑ "Sri Lanka : Speaker to officially announce appointment of Opposition Leader when parliament convenes in January". www.colombopage.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06.
- ↑ Of Ministers’ Salaries And Parliamentary Perks
- ↑ No official residence for Opposition Leader
- ↑ Sampanthan finally gets official residence!
External links
- Parliament of Sri Lanka - Handbook of Parliament, Leaders of the Opposition


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