Maithripala Sirisena

Maithripala Sirisena MP
මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன
Sirisena in 2017
7th President of Sri Lanka
In office 9 January 2015 – 18 November 2019
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickramasinghe Mahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded by	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Succeeded by	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Minister of Defence
In office 12 January 2015 – 18 November 2019
President	Himself
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe Mahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded by	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Succeeded by	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment[N 1]
In office 12 January 2015 – 18 November 2019
President	Himself
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe Mahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded by	Susil Premajayantha
In office 23 November 2005 – 23 April 2010
President	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Prime Minister	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Succeeded by	Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
Cabinet posts Minister of Health In office 23 April 2010 – 21 November 2014 President Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne Preceded by Nimal Siripala de Silva Succeeded by Tissa Attanayake Minister of Irrigation, Mahaweli and Rajarata Development[N 2] In office 10 August 2004 – 23 November 2005 President Chandrika Kumaratunga Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Minister of Mahaweli Development and Parliamentary Affairs In office 1997–2001 President Chandrika Kumaratunga Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Sirimavo Bandaranaike Preceded by S. B. Dissanayake Succeeded by A. H. M. Azwer Deputy Minister of Irrigation In office 1994–1997 President Chandrika Kumaratunga Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Leadership positions 5th Chairman of BIMSTEC In office 31 August 2018 – 18 November 2019 Preceded by Khadga Prasad Oli Succeeded by Gotabaya Rajapaksa 6th Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party In office 15 January 2015 – 12 May 2024 Preceded by Mahinda Rajapaksa Succeeded by Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe 19th Leader of the House In office 3 May 2004 – 9 August 2005 President Chandrika Kumaratunga Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Preceded by W. J. M. Lokubandara Succeeded by Nimal Siripala de Silva General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party In office October 2001 – 21 November 2014 Chairperson Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa Preceded by S. B. Dissanayake Succeeded by Anura Priyadharshana Yapa
Constituencies Member of Parliament for Polonnaruwa District Incumbent Assumed office 20 August 2020 Majority 111,137 Preferential Votes In office 9 March 1989[1] – 9 January 2015 Succeeded by Jayasinghe Bandara Majority 90,118 Preferential Votes
Personal details
Born	Pallewatte Gamaralage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (1951-09-03) 3 September 1951 (age 72) Yagoda, Dominion of Ceylon
Citizenship	Sri Lankan
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party (since 1968) Communist Party of Ceylon (1966–1968)
Other political affiliations	Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance (2019–2022) United People's Freedom Alliance (2004–2019)[N 3] New Democratic Front (2014–2015)[N 4] People's Alliance (1994–2004)
Spouse	Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari
Children	Chathurika Daham Dharani
Alma mater	Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
Occupation	Politician
Signature

Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (Sinhala: පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; Tamil: பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரிபால யாப்பா சிறிசேன; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019.^[2][3] Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite.^[4] He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.

Sirisena joined mainstream politics in 1989 as a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and has held several ministries since 1994.^[5] He was the general-secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and was Minister of Health until November 2014 when he announced his candidacy in the 2015 presidential election as the opposition coalition's "common candidate", thus leading to him running against party leader and incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa.^[6][7] His victory in the election was generally viewed as unexpected, coming to office through the votes won from the alternative Sinhala-majority rural constituency and the Tamil and Muslim minority groups that were alienated by the Rajapaksa government on post-war reconciliation and growing sectarian violence.^{[4][8][9][10]} Maithripala Sirisena pledged to implement a 100-day reform program where he promised to rebalance the executive branch within 100 days of being elected, by reinforcing Sri Lanka's judiciary and parliament, to fight corruption and to investigate allegations of war crimes from 2009, repeal the controversial eighteenth amendment, re-instate the seventeenth amendment and appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister.^[11][12][13] He later was reported to have publicly disavowed this program, claiming that he did not know where it originated.^[14][15]

Sirisena was sworn in as the sixth Executive President before Supreme Court judge K. Sripavan in Independence Square, Colombo at 6:20 p.m. on 9 January 2015.^[16][17] Immediately afterwards he appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Prime Minister.^[18][19] After being sworn in Sirisena stated that he would only serve one term.^[20] Sirisena voluntarily transferred significant presidential powers to parliament on 28 April.^[21][22]

In 2018, Sirisena appointed the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa (his former rival) as the Prime Minister, wrote a letter firing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (with whose major support he became the president in 2015) and prorogued Parliament, all in apparent contradiction to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, instigating a constitutional crisis.^[23][24][25] This marks Sirisena's second and most successful attempt to bring Rajapaksa to power.^[26][27]

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