Presumptive and announced presidential candidates: who will call the shots after September 21?

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe was born on March 24 ,1949. He had his basic education at Royal College Colombo and entered Law College in 1972.   

Wickremesinghe began his political career in 1977 being elected to Parliament in 1977 as the United National Party (UNP) member of Biyagama. He became a Deputy Minister in the J. R. Jayewardene government of 1977 and was later appointed as Minister of Education and Youth Affairs. He was instrumental in establishing the National Youth Council, which has shaped the careers of Sri Lankan youth.   

He was appointed Minister of Industries by late President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1989. Mr. Wickremesinghe became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in May 1993 in the interim government formed after the assassination of President R. Premadasa. He became the Leader of UNP in 1994. He held the Prime Minister’s post from time to time from 2002 to 2004, from January to August 2015 and from August 2015 to November 2019 and for a brief period in 2022. Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected by 134 MPs in Parliament to serve as the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka in July 2022 when the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned from the post.   
Mr. Wickremesinghe has successfully retained UNP leadership since 1994 despite various challenges.   

Sajith Premadasa 

Born on January 12, 1967, Mr. Premadasa had his basic education at Royal College Colombo. He joined active politics in 1994 contesting the General Election held in August the same year. He was elected as a UNP MP for Hambantota District.   

He was appointed Deputy Minister of Health in the UNF government in 2001. Mr. Premadasa who was seen as a successor to Ranil Wickremesinghe as the UNP leader was seen engaged in a long battle to secure leadership of the party. However, he served as Minister of Housing under the Maithripala Sirisena administration in 2015.   
He contested the 2019 Presidential Election from the UNP but was defeated by his rival Gotabaya Rajapaksa.   
Mr. Premadasa together with a large number of seniors formed Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in 2020. SJB became the second largest party in Parliament that year and Mr. Premadasa was appointed Leader of Opposition. He is also a member of the Constitutional Council. However, some MPs have defected from SJB since 2020 rejecting his policies. This includes Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who could be one of his rival candidates in this year’s Presidential poll.   

He is known for long speeches in Parliament currently and raises many a question in the House almost every sitting day.   

He is the son of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa who led UNP from 1989 to 1993.   
Mr. Premadasa is slated to contest for the presidency in this year’s Presidential Election.   

 Anura Kumara Dissanayake   

Anura Kumara Dissanayake born on November 24, 1968, is a  graduate of the University of Kelaniya. He entered politics as a  student in 1987 and participated in the activities of the Socialist  Students Union. He was appointed as the National Organiser of the  Socialist Students Union in 1997. He was elected to the Central  Committee of the JVP in 1997 and was appointed to the Political Bureau  of the JVP in 1998. In 1998 nominated as the chief ministerial candidate  for the Central Provincial Council. He entered Parliament in 2000. He  was appointed the Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation and  Livestock of the People’s Alliance government in 2004. 

 
He became the leader of the group of Parliamentarians of  the JVP in 2008. He was elected unanimously as the Leader of the JVP at  the 7th National Convention of the JVP held on February 2, 2014. He was  elected for the post of Chief Opposition Whip of the Eighth Parliament  of Sri Lanka in 2015 and held the position till 2018.   
He was elected to the parliament in the General Election, in August 2020, representing Colombo District.   
Anura Kumara contested the Presidential Election in 2019 as  the Candidate of the National People’s Power movement (NPP) and  obtained 418,553 votes (3.16%) and ranked third according to the  obtained votes.   

Sarath Fonseka

Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka was born on December 18, 1950. He was the wartime army commander of Sri Lanka. He functioned as the Chief of Defence Staff for a brief period.   

After retiring from the Army with the rank of General, he entered politics as the common opposition candidate in the 2010 Presidential Election unsuccessfully contesting against then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was arrested and court-martialed later. He also contested for the General Election in 2010 and was elected as an MP. He formed his own party ‘Democratic Party’ which contested for the Provincial Council elections in 2014. He entered

Parliament through the national list. He was appointed a Field Marshal by President Maithripala Sirisena during the same year. He was the Minister of Wildlife Conservation in the Yahapalana government.   

Field Marshal Fonseka was appointed as the Chairman of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in 2020 and was re-elected to Parliament during the same year. However, he fell out with SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa and distanced himself from the party later. 

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe 

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, MP, PC was born 16 March 1959. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer by profession. Mr. Rajapakshe is the current Minister of Justice and previously served in the same ministry from 2015 to 2017.   
Mr. Rajapakshe who has been a long standing member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party was a member of UPFA government since 2007. He crossed over and became a member of UNP later.   

He has chaired the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and tabled a report which revealed many frauds in 2007. Minister Rajapakshe was one time President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). He was the Justice Minister for a period during the time of the Yahapalana government.   

He later joined the Cabinet of President Ranil Wickremesinghe once again as the Minister of Justice.Mr. Rajapakshe was appointed as the Chairman of SLFP recently but has faced legal challenges against this appointment. He announced his candidacy for this year’s Presidential Election on Thursday, July 25 2024.