The Joint Opposition (; ) was a political alliance formed by a faction of the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...

(SLFP) alongside several smaller quasi-left-wing parties of Sri Lanka. Between 2015 and 2019, it was the largest opposition group in the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...

, and at its maximum extent the alliance had 52 MPs. The alliance was formed after the two major parties of Sri Lanka, the SLFP and the

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 ...

(UNP), formed a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

, leading to a great degree of discontent amongst many SLFP members (many of whom were loyal to former president

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

), who then went on to form the Joint Opposition alongside other parties from the

United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA; ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ) was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004 and dissolved by former Sri Lankan President Ma ...

(UPFA). The alliance aimed to give voice to the mandate voters provided for the UPFA at the 2015 general election, which many loyal SLFP members felt the party had abandoned when it joined the UNP-led government. The organization largely consisted of Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists and was very critical of the administration of President

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

and Prime Minister

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 a ...

. The alliance also prominently included individuals outside parliament such as D. E. W. Gunasekera and G. L. Peiris, who were denied parliamentary seats due to President Sirisena's decision to appoint defeated loyalists into parliament through the National List. The Joint Opposition was led by

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) is a political party in Sri Lanka. The party is currently led by former Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, son of Philip Gunawardena, the founder of the party. History Under Philip Gunaw ...

leader

Dinesh Gunawardena Dinesh Chandra Rupasinghe Gunawardena (, ; born 2 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He also held the positions of Ministry of Home Affairs (Sri Lanka), Minister of Public Administ ...

. The

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna The Sri Lanka People's Front (; ), commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It was the ruling party in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party in Parliament of Sr ...

, founded in 2016 and currently led by Rajapaksa, can be considered to be the alliance's spiritual successor.

Constituent parties

*Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( Rajapaksa faction) *

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...

* Upcountry National Front *

* Democratic Left Front * National Freedom Front * Pivithuru Hela Urumaya

References

External links

{{Sri Lankan political parties 2015 establishments in Sri Lanka Defunct political party alliances in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 2015