Ranil Wickremesinghe Biography: Sri Lankan President, Political Career, Family, Wife, Education & Other details

Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe: Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan Politician who is also currently the 9th President of Sri Lanka since July 21, 2022. Wickremesinghe also holds the position of the Minister of Finance of the country and is the Member of the Parliament from the United National Party. Ranil Wickremesinghe has served as a Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in six separate stints and also served as the leader of the opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015. On July 20, 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as the 9th President of Sri Lanka via an election by Parliament.

Know more about Ranil Wickremesinghe political career, family, wife, education, and other significant details.

Ranil Wickremesinghe Biography

Ranil Wickremesinghe Early Life, Family, wife, education

Ranil Wickremesinghe was born on March 24, 1949, in Colombo. His father was a lawyer who became a press baron taking over the Lake House Group of Newspapers.

Ranil Wickremesinghe received his education at the Royal Preparatory School and the Royal College, Colombo. He entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Ceylon at its Colombo Campus which is now the University of Colombo. After graduation, Wickremesinghe completed the law exams at the Ceylon Law College and took oaths as an advocate in 1972. He became an Attorney of law following the changes to the legal profession in 1973.

Ranil Wickremesinghe married Maithree Wickremesinghe, a Sri Lanka academic and Professor of English in 1994. His wife avoided the political spotlight until Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent re-elected as Prime Minister in 2015.

A number of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s close relations were active in politics. His cousin Ruwan Wijewardene was the State Minister of Defence, Wasantha Senanayake was the State Minister of Foreign Affairs and his aunt Amari Wijewardene was the Sri Lanka High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Ranil Wickremesinghe Political Career

Ranil Wickremesinghe joined the United National Party and progressed through its ranks. Have a look at his political career and stints as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on various occasions.

First time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1993-1994)

Ranil Wickremesinghe on May 7, 1993 was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers and Prime Minister D.B. Wijetunga was appointed the President of the country. During his first premiership, Wickremesinghe is credited for pushing the country through an impressive economic transformation and was backed by the business community.

In 1994 Parliamentary elections, the United National Party (UNP) lost to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance (PA) and Kumaratunga was appointed the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated in the race for Opposition leader by two votes  by fellow UNP member Gamini Dissanayake.

Second time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (2001-2004)

In the Parliamentary General Election in 2001, Ranil Wickremesinghe led UNF (United National Front) to win 109 seats and People’s Alliance was able to obtain only 77 seats. Consequently, Wickremesinghe was able to form a new UNF government and was sworn in as the 17th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on December 9, 2001.

In 2004 Parliamentary elections, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s UNF lost the governmental office Despite, the expectation of a full six year term, and planned projects cut short by the defeat. Within 14 months of UPFA’s victory, the radical JVP wings parting of the ways with the government, left the UPFA’s parliamentary composition well short of the required majority.

Ranil Wickremesinghe remained in the position of opposition leader till 2015, when Maithripala Sirisena who was sworn in as the President, appointed him as the Prime Minister.

Third, Fourth and Fifth time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (2015-2019)

After the 2015 Presidential elections in Sri Lanka UNP-led common candidate Maithripala Sirisena having won 51.28% of votes and under Memorandum of Understanding agreement, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the Prime Minister for the 100-day program plan. This was his third term as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

UNP/UNFGG led by Ranil Wickremesinghe won the General Parliamentary Elections held on August 17, 2015, making him the Prime Minister for his 4^th term, with 106 seats in 225 member Parliament of Sri Lanka forming the government.

In 2018, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister after the United People’s Freedom Alliance withdrew from the Unity Government. He also informed that Ranil Wickremesinghe was removed from the office, however, Wickremesinghe refused to accept the dismissal claiming that it was unconstitutional which triggered a constitutional crisis. After the rulings by the Supreme Court and Appeal Court, Mahinda Rajapaksa backed down and Ranil Wickremesinghe was re-instated as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on December 16, 2018.

Sixth time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (2022)

By May 2022, Sri Lanka was in sovereign default and facing hyperinflation which led to political and social unrest. With the events leading to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation on May 9, 2022, because of the widespread protests, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister of the country on May 12, 2022.

President of Sri Lanka (2022-Present)

On July 13, 2022, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country to the Maldives, with Ranil Wickremesinghe claiming the charge of Presidency in an acting capacity because of his premiership and imposed a state of emergency in Sri Lanka.

After Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official resignation, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the acting President of Sri Lanka on July 15, 2022.

Ranil Wickremesinghe Honours

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