Politics of Sri Lanka

Politics of Sri Lanka
Polity typeUnitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic
ConstitutionConstitution of Sri Lanka
Legislative branch
NameParliament
TypeUnicameral
Meeting placeSri Lanka Parliament
Presiding officerMahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
Executive branch
Head of state
TitlePresident
CurrentlyAnura Kumara Dissanayake
AppointerDirect election
Head of government
TitlePrime Minister
CurrentlyHarini Amarasuriya
AppointerPresident
Cabinet
NameCabinet of Sri Lanka
Current cabinetDissanayake cabinet
LeaderPresident
AppointerPresident
Ministries29
Judicial branch
NameJudiciary
Supreme Court
Chief judgeJayantha Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka is a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Starting from the early 1950s, the two main parties of Sri Lanka were the social democratic Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the liberal conservative United National Party for several decades. Recently, however, the influence of the two parties has diminished significantly; currently, the two main parties are the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, both of which split from one of the two previous parties, respectively. Other notable parties include the Tamil National Alliance, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Sri Lanka a "flawed democracy" in 2022.[1][needs update]

  1. ^ Democracy Index 2023: Age of Conflict (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit (Report). 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-07-22.