The Mayor of Galle is the head of Galle Municipal Council and his office is located at the Galle Town Hall.
The following were the Mayor of Galle:
Name | Date of office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
1939-41 | First Mayor of Galle and Prime Minister of Ceylon (1959–60) | ||
A. I. H. A. Wahab | 1942-43 | First Muslim Mayor of Galle; High Commissioner to Ghana | |
Don Samuel Goonasekera[1] | 1944 | Member for Udugama (1947-52), Member for Habaraduwa (1960-64) Minister of Labour, Cultural Affairs and Social Services | |
W. T. Wijekulasuriya | 1945 | High Commissioner to Kenya | |
E. D. Nagahawatta | 1946 | ||
W. T. Wijekulasuriya | 1947-49 | ||
1950-51 | The longest-serving mayor of Galle[2] | ||
W. T. Wijekulasuriya | 1952-53 | ||
A. R. M. Thassim | 1954-62 | ||
W. D. S. Abeygoonawardena | 1966-69 | Member of Parliament for Galle | |
D. P. Wijenarayana | 1970-1971 | Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Union of Myanmar (1982–86) | |
B. P. Wijenarayana | 1972-74 | ||
S. C. C. R. Koolathilak | 1974 | ||
A. G. Goonarathne | 1979-83 | ||
A. H. M. Anwar | 1983-88 | nephew of Al-Haj A. R. M. Thassim | |
T. Darlin de Silva | 1988-91 | ||
Wijaya Dahanayake[3] | 1991-97 | Deputy Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs and Member of Parliament for Matara | |
1997-2001 | Member for Galle District (2004–10) and deputy minister of Social Services and Social Welfare | ||
Mansoor Marikar | 2001-02 | ||
2002-2004 | |||
Ismail Mohamed Ariff[4] | 2004-06 | ||
Weeranarayana Kelum Seneviratne | 2006 - November 2008 | At the local government elections in 2006 Seneviratne and de Silva both received an equal number (5,998) preferences each and subsequently agreed to share the office of Mayor, with Seneviratne becoming mayor for the first two years.[5] | |
Alexendar Methsiri de Silva | November 2008 - January 2013 | At the 2011 local government elections de Silva was formally elected as mayor. In January 2013 the Chief Minister of Southern Province, Shan Wijayalal De Silva formally removed de Silva from the office of mayor.[6] | |
Weeranarayana Kelum Seneviratne[7] | January 2013 - June 2014 | Following the removal of de Silva the deputy mayor, Seneviratne, was appointed as mayor. | |
Alexandar Methsiri de Silva | June 2014 - May 2015 | In June 2014 the Galle High Court revoked the Chief Minister's decision to remove de Silva as mayor and he was re-instated.[8] | |
Weeranarayana Kelum Seneviratne | May 2015 - March 2018 | In May 2015 the Court of Appeal annulled the Galle High Court's decision and Seneviratne was appointed as mayor.[9] | |
Priyantha Godagama Sahabandu | March 2018 - present | Subsequent to the 2018 Sri Lankan local elections, in a secret ballot held on 23 March 2018, Sahabandu was elected to the position of mayor obtaining 20 votes to 11 over his rival candidate.[10] |