The president of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive of Sri Lanka. The president is a dominant political figure in the country. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene.
Presidents
;Parties
(1)
(4)
(3)
(1)
(1)
{| class="wikitable sticky-header" width=100%
! colspan="2" width=2%|No.
! width=75|Portrait
! width=27%|Name<br />
! colspan="2" width=20%|Term of office<br />Electoral mandates<br />Time in office
! width=27%|Other ministerial offices<br />held while president
! width=10%|Party<br />
! colspan="2" width=10%|Government
!
|-
! colspan=11|Non-Executive President (1972–1978)
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 1
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br />William Gopallawa<br />විලියම් ගොපල්ලව<br />வில்லியம் கோபள்ளவா<br />
| <br />1972
| <br />1978
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#DDDDDD rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| —
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
! colspan=11| Executive President of Sri Lanka (1978–present)
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 2
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br />Junius Richard Jayewardene<br />ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන<br />ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா<br />
| <br />1978
| <br />1989
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 1982
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 3
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br /><br />Ranasinghe Premadasa<br />රණසිංහ ප්රේමදාස<br />ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா<br />
| <br />1989
| <br />1993†
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"|
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 1988
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="5" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="5" align="center" | 4
|rowspan="5"|
|rowspan="5" align="center"| 60px<br /><br />Dingiri Banda Wijetunga<br />ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග<br />டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க<br />
| <br />1993
| <br />1993
|rowspan="4"|
|rowspan="4" bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|rowspan="5"|
|-
| <br />1993
| <br />1994
|-
|colspan="2" align="center" | 1993
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ddeeff" |
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ddeeff" |
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 5
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br />Chandrika Kumaratunga<br />චන්ද්රිකා කුමාරතුංග<br />சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்கே குமாரதுங்கா<br />
| <br />1994
| <br />2005
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff|
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 1994, 1999
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 6
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br />Mahinda Rajapaksa<br />මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ<br />மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ<br />
| <br />2005
| <br />2015
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 2005, 2010
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="4" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="4" align="center" | 7
|rowspan="4"| 80px
|rowspan="4" align="center"| 60px<br />Maithripala Sirisena<br />මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන<br />மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன<br />
| <br />2015
| <br />2019
|rowspan="3"|
|bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"|
| bgcolor="#D0F0C0" | <!--Sirisena's cabinets, despite being a member of the SLFP himself, were predominantly UNP-->
|bgcolor=#DDEEFF |
|rowspan="4"|
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 2015
| bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
| bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="5" style="background-color:" |
| rowspan="5" align="center" | 8
|rowspan="5"| 80px
|rowspan="5" align="center"| 60px<br />Gotabaya Rajapaksa<br />ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ<br />கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ<br />
| <br />2019
| <br />2022
|rowspan="4"|
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="4"|
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC |
|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 |
|rowspan="5"|
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2" align="center"| 2019
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC |
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3"|
|-
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC |
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|bgcolor=#FFCCCC |
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="5" style="background-color:" |
|rowspan="5" align="center" | 9
|rowspan="5" align="center" | 80px
|rowspan="5" align="center"|Ranil Wickremesinghe<br />රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ<br />ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க<br /><br />
| <br />2022
| <br />2022
|rowspan="4"|
|rowspan="4" bgcolor="#D0F0C0" |
|rowspan="4" bgcolor="#FFCCCC" |
|rowspan="4" bgcolor="#FFCCCC" |
|rowspan="5"|
|-
| <br />2022
| <br />2024
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"| 2022
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
|colspan="6"|
|-
|rowspan="5" style="background-color:" |
| rowspan="5" |10
| rowspan="5" align="center"| 80px
| rowspan="5" align="center"|Anura Kumara Dissanayake<br />අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක<br />அநுர குமார திசாநாயக்க<br /><br />
| <br />2024
| Incumbent
| rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" bgcolor="#E0B5C4" |
| bgcolor="#E0B5C4" |
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC" |
| rowspan="4" |
|-
| colspan="2" align="center"|2024
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#E0B5C4" |
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#E0B5C4" |
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|
|-
| colspan="6" |
|}
Timeline
See also
- Presidential Secretariat
- List of prime ministers of Sri Lanka
Notes
References
External links
;General