The New Democratic Front (abbrv. NDF; , ) is a political alliance in

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, ...

. It was formed as a political party in 1995 after Srimani Athulathmudali, widow of assassinated politician Lalith Athulathmudali, split from the Democratic United National Front. The party was originally named the Democratic United National Lalith Front, after the politician, until it was renamed in 2009. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, the party served as a political front for supporting Sri Lankan presidential candidates in

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

by 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 ...

and its allies. In 2024, the party was relaunched as an alliance of MPs loyal to former president

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 ...

who had also supported the president in his unsuccessful reelection campaign. The alliance contested the

2024 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 14 November 2024 to elect 225 Member of Parliament (Sri Lanka), members to the new parliament. The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka was dissolved on 24 September 2024. The submission of nominations ...

s and won six seats.

History

In the early 1990s, Lalith Athulathmudali was a prominent

politician and dissident of

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...

and a potential challenger to Premadasa for the UNP candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections. He was removed from the UNP and formed his own political party, the Democratic United National Front, alongside other UNP dissidents. Athulathmudali was controversially

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

on 23 April 1993, which was widely believed to have been orchestrated by Premadasa himself. Two years after his assassination, a split in the Democratic United National Front would lead to his widow, Srimani Athulathmudali, establishing her own political party, the Democratic United National Lalith Front. In 2009, the party was renamed as the New Democratic Front (NDF).

2010 presidential election

In 2010, General

Sarath Fonseka Field Marshal Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka (born 18 December 1950) is a Sri Lankan retired army officer. He was the eighteenth Commander of the Sri Lankan Army from 2005 to 2009, and under his command the Sri Lankan Army ended the 26- ...

, a former Chief of Defence Staff and former

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

, was the NDF candidate in the 2010 presidential elections. He was contesting in the elections as the "joint opposition candidate", and was supported by the

(UNP) and the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; , PLF) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was formerly a revolutionary movement and was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 JVP ins ...

(JVP), the two main opposition parties, among others. Fonseka was one of the two main candidates of the election, along with then-incumbent 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 ...

, however Fonseka lost the election to Rajapaksa by a significant margin.

2015 presidential election

In December 2014, former general-secretary 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) and presidential candidate

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 ...

deposited his bond for the 2015 presidential elections, under the "symbol of the swan" of the National Democratic Front. Sirisena won the presidential election and was sworn in as the new

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

on 9 January 2015 after defeating incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena would also go on to replace Rajapaksa as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

2019 presidential election

In 2019,

Sajith Premadasa Sajith Premadasa (, ; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District. He is the current leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Saji ...

, deputy leader of the UNP and son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, was the NDF candidate in the 2019 presidential election. Premadasa lost the election to

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 ...

(SLPP) candidate

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, (; ; born 20 June 1949) was a Sri Lankan politician and military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his Resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resignation on 14 July 202 ...

2024 parliamentary election

In September 2024, following then-incumbent president

's loss in the

, the NDF was relaunched as a political alliance of MPs and parties who supported Wickremesinghe's campaign. The alliance changed its logo from a swan to a gas cylinder and contested in the 2024 parliamentary elections under the leadership of Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe, who did not run for parliament himself, endorsed the NDF and urged voters to vote for the party. The NDF ultimately won 6 seats and won the 3rd most votes nationally.

Member parties

The NDF currently consists of the following parties: *

*Breakaway members of the

Ceylon Workers' Congress The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) (; ''Lanka Kamkaru Kongrasaya'') is a political party in Sri Lanka that has traditionally represented Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin working in the plantation sector of the economy. __TOC__ History The ...

Eelam People's Democratic Party The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a Sri Lankan political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda. Background Douglas Devananda was one of the founding members of the Eelam Re ...

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 ...

* National Congress * National Unity Alliance * New Lanka Freedom Party *

Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya The Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP; Sri Lanka People's Party) is a political party in Sri Lanka, founded in 1984 by Vijaya Kumaranatunga. History 1980s Vijaya Kumaranatunga founded the party in 1984 and led it until his assassination in 19 ...

* Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal

Electoral history

Presidential

Parliamentary

Notes

References

{{Sri Lankan political parties 1995 establishments in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 1995 Political parties in Sri Lanka United National Front (Sri Lanka)