Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena (born 10 October 1945) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n politician and land proprietor. He was the

Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka The Speaker of the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the presiding officer of the chamber. The Speaker fulfills a number of important functions in relation to the operation of the House, which is based upon the ...

from 2020 to 2024.

Political career

He first entered parliament in 1983 as part of the Hakmana

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 ...

and has been active in politics for more than 30 years. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was a young MP when he openly criticised the 1987

Indo-Sri Lanka Accord The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan civil war, Sri Lankan Civ ...

for establishing a new provincial councils system in Sri Lanka. He along with Chandrakumara Wijeya Gunawardena, the member for

Kamburupitiya Kamburupitiya is a town in the Matara District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is located north of Matara at the intersection of the B356 (Kamburupitiya-Kirinda Road) and the B415 (Thihagoda-Kotapola Road). The town is situated in a wet, h ...

voted against the bill in Parliament becoming the only two government members who voted against it. He was later removed by the then President

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

from his Parliamentary seat for violation of the party rules by not voting for the bill. He later joined hands with

Gamini Dissanayake Dissanayake Mudiyanse Ralahamilage Lionel Gamini Dissanayake, PC (known as Gamini Dissanayake; ,; 20 March 1942 – 24 October 1994) was a prominent Sri Lankan politician, a powerful minister of the United National Party, and Leader of the Op ...

and Lalith Athulathmudali (who were also against the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord) as they too quit

and formed the Democratic United National Front or aka 'Rajaliya-front'. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena then contested for Southern Provincial Council under DUNF and won. He was then elected as the opposition leader of the Southern Provincial Council in 1993, and he became the Chief Minister of the Southern Provincial Council in 1994. Elected twice as the Chief Minister he was in office from 1994 to 2001. He is said to be one of the most successful Chief Ministers from the south for developing the infrastructure that was neglected for more than 5 years due to the dark era of the country. He left office to contest in the 2001 general elections and become an opposition MP and served until 2004. After the 2004 General elections, he became the Deputy Minister of Healthcare and later the Cabinet Minister for Cultural Affairs & National Heritage. After the 2010 General Elections, he was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture. Having been in office as the Minister of Agriculture for several years he was elected Vice Chairman at the 38th session of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations FAO Conference held in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 2013. He was again appointed as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in 2015 for a brief period until he resigned and joined the opposition. He is a representative of

Matara District Matara ( ''Mātara distrikkaya''; ''Māttaṛai māvaṭṭam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a Di ...

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 '' ...

. He resides in

Kalubowila Kalubowila is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is inside the administration boundary of the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia (; ), population 245,974 (2012), is a large municipality in Sri Lanka, covering . It lies south of the ...

, Dehiwala.

No-confidence motion

Abeywardena who was a Rajapakse ally was mostly criticized by the opposition and media for acting biased from the speaker's seat. On 5 March 2024, the main opposition party

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 approva ...

handed over a no-confidence motion against him claiming his actions to failure to protect the constitution by signing the Online Safety Bill and ignoring the Supreme Court’s recommendations pertaining to Sections 13, 17, 20, 33 (6), 34 (1), 35 (1), 21, 22 and 33. This was the first no-confidence motion against a Speaker of Parliament in the history of Sri Lanka. He was also criticized for being blatantly violated at the constitutional council to appoint inspector general of police, when we did not have the voting authority, but cast his vote.

References

External links

Political career

No-confidence motion

See also

References

External links