There have been fifteen prime ministers of Sri Lanka since the creation of the position in 1947, prior to the independence of the country (then known as Ceylon). The prime minister of Ceylon was the head of the government until 1972. In 1972, the country was renamed as the Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka, and the position was known as the prime minister of Sri Lanka from then onwards. The prime minister also held the unified Ministry of External Affairs and Defence until 1977, when the government of J. R. Jayewardene split the ministry into two ministries, forming the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1978, after Jayewardene became the president, new constitutional changes were introduced. The position of the executive president was introduced, resulting in the powers of the prime minister being reduced. The president became the head of state and chief executive,[1] and the prime minister became a weak head of government.[2]
Under the current constitution of Sri Lanka, the prime minister is the leader of the Cabinet business and also functions as a deputy to the president. In the event a president dies in office, the prime minister becomes the acting president until the Parliament convenes to elect a successor or new elections can be held to elect a new president. Such was the case in 1993, when President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated and Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga took office as president.[3]
On 28 April 2015, the Parliament approved the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka which gives the power of the government to the prime minister, while the president remains the head of state, head of the Cabinet, and commander-in-chief.[4]
Of the fourteen prime ministers who have held the office since the introduction of the position in 1947, one has held the office four times, two have held office thrice, and two have held office twice. Six prime ministers have gone on to become president of the country.[5]
Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as prime minister the most times in the country's history, on six occasions (May 1993, December 2001, January 2015, August 2015, December 2018 and May 2022),[6] [7] whilst Dudley Shelton Senanayaka and Sirimavo Bandaranayake have each been appointed three times. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only prime minister who was suspended from his duties by the Supreme Court,[8] [9] [10] becoming the first de facto prime minister of Sri Lanka in 2018.
| No. | width=75 | Portrait | width=27% | Name | Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office | width=27% | Other ministerial offices held while Prime Minister | width=10% | Political party of PM | Government | Refs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senanayake දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක டான் ஸ்டீபன் சேனாநாயக்க | 1947 | 1952† | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | [11] | |||||||
| 1947 | ||||||||||||||
| [12] | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ෂෙල්ටන් සෙනානායක டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா | 1952 | 1953 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1952 | ||||||||||||||
| [13] | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Kotelawala ශ්රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල சேர் ஜோன் கொத்தலாவலை | 1953 | 1956 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| [14] | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Bandaranaike සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிட்ஜ்வே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா | 1956 | 1959† | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1956 | ||||||||||||||
| [15] | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Dahanayake විජයානන්ද දහනායක விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா | 1959 | 1960 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| [16] | ||||||||||||||
| (2) | Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா | 1960 | 1960 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| March 1960 | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | Bandaranaike සිරිමාවො රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே | 1960 | 1965 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| July 1960 | ||||||||||||||
| (2) | Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா | 1965 | 1970 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1965 | ||||||||||||||
| [17] | ||||||||||||||
| (6) | Bandaranaike සිරිමාවො රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே | 1970 | 1977 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | Richard Jayewardene ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா | 1977 | 1978 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1977 | ||||||||||||||
| [18] | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Premadasa රණසිංහ ප්රේමදාස ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா | 1978 | 1989 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| [19] | ||||||||||||||
| 9 | Banda Wijetunga ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க | 1989 | 1993 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1989 | ||||||||||||||
| 10 | Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க | 1993 | 1994 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| [20] | ||||||||||||||
| 11 | Kumaratunga චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்கே குமாரதுங்கா | 1994 | 1994 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 1994 | ||||||||||||||
| [21] | ||||||||||||||
| (6) | Bandaranaike සිරිමාවො රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே | 1994 | 2000 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| 12 | Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක ரத்னசிறி விக்கிரமநாயக்க | 2000 | 2001 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 2000 | ||||||||||||||
| (10) | Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க | 2001 | 2004 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 2001 | ||||||||||||||
| [22] | ||||||||||||||
| 13 | Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ | 2004 | 2005 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 2004 | ||||||||||||||
| [23] | ||||||||||||||
| (12) | Wickremanayake රත්නසිරි වික්රමනායක ரத்னசிறி விக்கிரமநாயக்க | 2005 | 2010 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| 14 | Jayaratne දිසානායක මුදියන්සේලාගේ ජයරත්න திசாநாயக்க முதியன்சேலாகே ஜயரத்ன | 2010 | 2015 | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||||||||
| (10) | Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க | 2015 | 2018 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | bgcolor=#ddeeff | ||||||||
| 2015 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="2" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="2" | ||||||||||||
| (13) | Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ | 2018 | 2018 | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| (10) | Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க | 2018 | 2019 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| (13) | Rajapaksa මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ | 2019 | 2022 | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#FFCCCC | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 | ||||||||
| 2020 | bgcolor=#FFCCCC | |||||||||||||
| bgcolor=#FFCCCC | ||||||||||||||
| (10) | Wickremesinghe රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க | 2022 | 2022 | bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | ||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||
| 15 | Gunawardena දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන தினேஷ் குணவர்தன | 2022 | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3" | |||||||||
| — | ||||||||||||||