Thirimadura Ranjith de Zoysa (3 May 1962 – 4 December 2019) was a Sri Lankan politician and member of 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 was a member 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 ...

and

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 ...

. He died on 4 December 2019 while receiving treatments at a hospital in Singapore for a cardiac condition.

Early life

Zoysa was born to a family of seven children from Elpitiya, Godakawela, on 3 May 1962. He obtained primary education from Siddhartha Vidyalaya in Elpitiya, secondary education from Rahula College in Elpitiya, and later studied agriculture in Aquinas University College.

Political career

In the late 1980s, motivated at the time by the radical political wave of the JVP, Zoysa entered politics. He was later elected chairman of Atakalampanna Pradeshiya Sabha in 1997 and appointed chairman of the same Pradeshiya Sabha as opposition leader in 2002. Zoysa was elected to the

Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council The Sabaragamuwa Province (, , ) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is the capital of the province. History The provinces of Sri Lanka were created by the British in the 19th century, but did not have any legal status until 198 ...

in 2004 and 2008, where he held many positions of provincial minister. He was first elected from the Rakwana Electorate to the Parliament in 2010, and re-elected from the same electorate in 2015. He later served as the Joint Opposition's deputy national organizer. In the last presidential election, he played a major role in President

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 ...

's victory.

Controversies

He was arrested over assaulting a person on 20 December 2018 and remanded until 1 January 2019.

References

1962 births 2019 deaths Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians United People's Freedom Alliance politicians Alumni of Aquinas College of Higher Studies {{SabaragamuwaLK-politician-stub