| Post: | Leader of the Opposition of ශ්රී ලංකා විපක්ෂ නායක இலங்கை எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் |
| Flag: | Flag of Sri Lanka.svg |
| Flagsize: | 150px |
| Flagborder: | yes |
| Insignia: | Emblem of Sri Lanka.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Incumbentsince: | 3 January 2020 |
| Formation: | 14 October 1947 |
| Termlength: | While leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government |
In Sri Lanka, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not a part of the government. This is usually the leader of the second-largest party in Parliament.
Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa has been the incumbent Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament since 3 January 2020. He was officially sworn in on 20 August 2020, after the Speaker announced his appointment in parliament.[1] [2]
In 2016, the Leader of the Opposition received a salary month and other entitlements of a Member of Parliament.[3]
The leader of the opposition is entitled to an official residence, office, transport and security equal that of a Cabinet Minister.[4] [5]
In the Sri Lankan order of precedence, the leader of the opposition is ranked at the level of a Cabinet Minister in the order of precedence.
| No. | Opposition Leader | Political party | Term of office | Government | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Days | ||||||
| 1 | N. M. Perera Sinhala; Sinhalese: ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා | Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 14 October 1947 | 8 April 1952 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | 1st | ||||
| Office vacant | 8 April 1952 | 9 June 1952 | – | |||||||
| 2 | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Sinhala; Sinhalese: එස්. ඩබ්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 June 1952 | 18 February 1956 | 2nd | |||||
| Office vacant | 18 February 1956 | 19 April 1956 | – | |||||||
| 3rd | ||||||||||
| (1) | N. M. Perera Sinhala; Sinhalese: ඇන්. ඇම්. පෙරේරා | Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 19 April 1956 | 5 December 1959 | ||||||
| Office vacant | 5 December 1959 | 30 March 1960 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| 3 | C. P. de Silva Sinhala; Sinhalese: සී. පී. ද සිල්වා | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 30 March 1960 | 23 April 1960 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | 4th | ||||
| Office vacant | 23 April 1960 | 5 August 1960 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| 4 | Dudley Senanayake Sinhala; Sinhalese: ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක | United National Party | 5 August 1960 | 17 December 1964 | bgcolor=#ddeeff | 5th | ||||
| Office vacant | 17 December 1964 | 5 April 1965 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| 5 | Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sinhala; Sinhalese: සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 5 April 1965 | 25 March 1970 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | 6th | ||||
| Office vacant | 25 March 1970 | 7 June 1970 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| 6 | J. R. Jayewardene Sinhala; Sinhalese: ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන | United National Party | 7 June 1970 | 18 May 1977 | bgcolor=#ddeeff | 7th | ||||
| Office vacant | 18 May 1977 | 4 August 1977 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| 7 | A. Amirthalingam Tamil: அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கம் | Tamil United Liberation Front | 4 August 1977 | 24 October 1983 | 8th | |||||
| Office vacant | 24 October 1983 | 8 November 1983 | ||||||||
| 8 | Anura Bandaranaike Sinhala; Sinhalese: අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 8 November 1983 | 20 December 1988 | ||||||
| Office vacant | 20 December 1988 | 9 March 1989 | – | |||||||
| – | ||||||||||
| (5) | Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sinhala; Sinhalese: සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 March 1989 | 24 June 1994 | 9th | |||||
| Office vacant | 24 June 1994 | 25 August 1994 | – | |||||||
| 9 | Gamini Dissanayake Sinhala; Sinhalese: ගාමිණි දිසානායක | United National Party | 25 August 1994 | 24 October 1994 | 10th | |||||
| Office vacant | 24 October 1994 | 28 October 1994 | ||||||||
| 10 | Ranil Wickremesinghe Sinhala; Sinhalese: රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ | United National Party | 28 October 1994 | 10 October 2001 | 10th 11th | |||||
| Office vacant | 10 October 2001 | 18 December 2001 | – | |||||||
| 11 | Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Sinhala; Sinhalese: රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 18 December 2001 | 31 January 2002 | 12th | |||||
| Office vacant | 31 January 2002 | 6 February 2002 | ||||||||
| 12 | Mahinda Rajapaksa Sinhala; Sinhalese: මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 6 February 2002 | 7 February 2004 | ||||||
| Office vacant | 7 February 2004 | 22 April 2004 | – | |||||||
| (10) | Ranil Wickremesinghe Sinhala; Sinhalese: රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ | United National Party | 22 April 2004 | 9 January 2015 | bgcolor=#ddeeff | |||||
| bgcolor=#ddeeff | ||||||||||
| Office vacant | 9 January 2015 | 16 January 2015 | ||||||||
| 13 | Nimal Siripala de Silva Sinhala; Sinhalese: නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 16 January 2015 | 26 June 2015 | ||||||
| Office vacant | 26 June 2015 | 3 September 2015 | – | |||||||
| 14 | R. Sampanthan Tamil: இரா. சம்பந்தன் | Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi | 3 September 2015 | 18 December 2018 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | |||||
| (12) | Mahinda Rajapaksa Sinhala; Sinhalese: මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 18 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | |||||
| Office vacant | 21 November 2019 | 3 January 2020 | ||||||||
| 15 | Sajith Premadasa Sinhala; Sinhalese: සජිත් ප්රේමදාස | Samagi Jana Balawegaya | 3 January 2020 | Incumbent | ||||||