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United National Party
The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party, or as part of its governing coalition, during the periods 1947–1956, 1965–1970, 1977–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2019, and 2022–2024. After suffering a major split in the lead-up to the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2020 parliamentary elections, the UNP suffered a major collapse, with the party only winning one Appointed and National List Member of Parliament, national list seat and losing all its votes to the new Samagi Jana Balawegaya alliance. Currently, the UNP is a notable Third party (politics), third party in Sri Lankan politics. The UNP has been led by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe since 1994. The party is a member of the International Democracy Union. History Formation (1946–1952) The UNP was founded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ranil Wickremesinghe
Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. Wickremesinghe has held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Finance (Sri Lanka), Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence (Sri Lanka), Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology (Sri Lanka), Minister of Technology and Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment. Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party (UNP) since 1994. Born into a Wijewardene family, political family, Wickremesinghe graduated from the University of Ceylon and qualified as a lawyer from the Ceylon Law College in 1972. He entered politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, first being elected to Parliament in 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1977. Over the years, he hel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Local Government In Sri Lanka
Local government is the third and lowest level of government in Sri Lanka – after the central government and provincial councils. The local government bodies are collectively known as local authorities. They are responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, libraries, public parks and recreational facilities. Sri Lankan local authorities are divided into 3 different groups: * 25 Districts administered under a District secretary / Government Agent (GA) * Districts are divided into 331 Divisional secretariats (DS) administered by a Divisional secretary (DS) * Divisional secretariats (DS divisions) are subdivided into 14,022 Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions served by Grama Niladharis (GN) / village officers. And some areas have special administrations : * 29 Municipal councils that preside over the largest cities * 36 Urban councils. As of 24 March 2025, there were 341 local authorities, comprising 29 mun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed in the late 19th century and has been applied to various politicians, parties, and movements since that time, often assuming a pejorative tone. Within political science and other social sciences, several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that the term be rejected altogether. Etymology and terminology The term "populism" has long been subject to mistranslation and used to describe a broad and often contradictory array of movements and beliefs. Its usage has spanned continents and contexts, leading many scholars to characterize it as a vague or overstretched concept, widely invoked in political discourse, yet inconsistently defined and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the English overseas possessions, overseas possessions and trading posts established by Kingdom of England, England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and colonisation attempts by Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the 17th century. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the List of largest empires, largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered , of the Earth's total land area. As a result, Westminster system, its constitutional, Common law, legal, English language, linguistic, and Culture of the United Kingdom, cultural legacy is widespread. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the last Islamic prophet. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous Islamic holy books, revelations, such as the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injeel (Gospel). These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad (''sunnah'') as recorded in traditional accounts (hadith). With an estimated population of almost 2 billion followers, Muslims comprise around 26% of the world's total population. In descending order, the percentage of people who identify as Muslims on each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamil People
The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longest-surviving classical languages, with over two thousand years of written history, dating back to the Sangam period (between 300 BCE and 300 CE). Tamils constitute about 5.7% of the Indian population and form the majority in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. They also form significant proportions of the populations in Sri Lanka (15.3%), Malaysia (7%) and Singapore (5%). Tamils have migrated world-wide since the 19th century CE and a significant population exists in South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, as well as other regions such as the Southeast Asia, Middle East, Caribbean and parts of the Western World. Archaeological evidence from Tamil Nadu indicates a continuous history of human occupat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinhalese People
The Sinhalese people (), also known as the Sinhalese or Sinhala people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, constituting about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number more than 15.2 million. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala language, Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language. Sinhalese people are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a significant minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity in Sri Lanka, Christianity and Religion in Sri Lanka, other religions. Since 1815, Sinhalese people were broadly divided into two subgroups: the up-country Sinhalese of the Central province, Sri Lanka, central mountainous regions, and the low-country Sinhalese of the coastal regions. Although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs. According to the ''Mahavamsa'', a Pali chronicle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Official Photographic Portrait Of Don Stephen Senanayaka (1884-1952)
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of their superior or employer, public or legally private). An elected official is a person who is an official by virtue of an election. Officials may also be appointed ''ex officio'' (by virtue of another office, often in a specified capacity, such as presiding, advisory, secretary). Some official positions may be inherited. A person who currently holds an office is referred to as an incumbent. Something "official" refers to something endowed with governmental or other authoritative recognition or mandate, as in official language, official gazette, or official scorer. Etymology The word ''official'' as a noun has been recorded since the Middle English period, first seen in 1314. It comes from the Old French ' (12th century), from the Latin">-4; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Party (politics)
A minor party is a political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller, even insignificant in comparison) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections. The difference between minor and major parties can be so great that the membership total, donations, and the candidates that they are able to produce or attract are very distinct. Some of the minor parties play almost no role in a country's politics because of their low recognition, vote and donations. Minor parties often receive very small numbers of votes at an election (to the point of losing any candidate nomination deposit). The method of voting can also assist or hinder a minor party's chances. For example, in an election for more than one member, the proportional representation method of voting can be advantageous to a minor party as can preference allocation from one or both of the major parties. A minor party that follows the direction/directive of some other major parties is called a bloc p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samagi Jana Balawegaya
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB; , , ) is a centrist political alliance led by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. It is the largest opposition coalition in the Parliament of Sri Lanka since 2020. The alliance was formed with the approval of the working committee of the United National Party (UNP) to contest in the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. On 11 February 2020, the election commission of Sri Lanka announced that they had accepted the new alliance as a recognised political coalition in Sri Lanka. Ranjith Madduma Bandara was named as the general secretary of the party. Other minor political parties like the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) joined the new alliance on 12 February 2020. The alliance won 54 seats and became the main opposition just six months after its formation. While the alliance traces its political views to the liberal-conservative principles of the UNP, some members of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appointed And National List Member Of Parliament
A national list member of parliament (national list MP) is a nominated member of parliament who is appointed by a political party or an independent group to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The number of national list MPs allocated to a contesting party or an independent group depends on the proportion of their share of the national vote. A total of 29 national list MPs are appointed alongside 196 elected MPs (elected from 22 multi-member electoral districts) making a total of 225 members in the parliament. History Following the establishment of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Ceylon under the Soulbury Commission, the House of Representatives had six members appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister to represent important interests which were not represented or inadequately represented in the House, they were usually from the European and Burgher communities and on occasions from the Indian Tamils and Muslim (Moors or Malays) groups. On a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2020 Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters. The incumbent Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance coalition claimed a landslide victory in the election, winning 145 seats, while Samagi Jana Balawegaya won 54 seats, Tamil National Alliance won 10 seats and National People's Power won 3 seats. The main opposition United National Party suffered its worst showing in history following a split over party leadership, finishing in fifth place with only one seat. The election was postponed at least twice due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, before the date was finalized as 5 August 2020. Prior to the election, a coronavirus-proof mock election was conducted by the Election Commission in June 2020 as a trial run in order to comply with health guidelines. Initial reports revealed that the overall voter turnout was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
