The following lists events that happened during 2001 in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Incumbents

* President:

Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga ( si, චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග, ta, சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க; born 29 Ju ...

* Prime Minister:

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Ratnasiri Wickremanayake ( si, රත්නසිරි වික්‍රමනායක, ta, ரத்னசிறி விக்கிரமநாயக்க; 5 May 1933 – 27 December 2016) was a Sri Lankan politician who was Prime Mi ...

(until 7 December); Ranil Wickremesinghe (starting 7 December) * Chief Justice: Sarath N. Silva

Governors

* Central Province – Tudor Dassanayake (until 1 January);

K. B. Ratnayake Kiri Banda Ratnayake (23 February 1924 - 30 April 2004) was a Sri Lankan politician, the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament and later was the Governor of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Born in a small hamlet in Rajarata, his father Mudali ...

(starting 1 January) * North Central Province – G. M. S. Samaraweera * North Eastern Province –

Asoka Jayawardena Major General Deshamanya Asoka Kanthilal Jayawardena, Rana Wickrama Padakkama, RWP, Rana Sura Padakkama, RSP, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, VSV, Uttama Seva Padakkama, USP, was Sri Lankan senior army officer and politician. He was the former Provin ...

* North Western Province –

Siripala Jayaweera Siripala Jayaweera was the sixth Governor of the North Western Province of Sri Lanka from January 1999 to April 2004. References Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Governors of North Western Province, Sri Lanka ...

Sabaragamuwa Province The Sabaragamuwa Province ( si, සබරගමුව පළාත ''Sabaragamuwa Paḷāta'', ta, சபரகமுவ மாகாணம் ''Sabaragamuwa Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrati ...

–

C. N. Saliya Mathew C. N. Saliya W. Mathew was the 2nd Governor of Sabaragamuwa. He was appointed in 1993 succeeding Noel Wimalasena Deshamanya Noel Wimalasena (23 March 1914 – 5 May 1994) was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and the first Governor of Sabarag ...

* Southern Province – Ananda Dassanayake (until January);

Kingsley Wickramaratne Kingsley Tissa Wickramaratne was the 5th Governor of Southern Province, Governor of Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Wickramaratne held the position from 1 February 2002, through 23 October 2006, when he was replaced by Kumari Balasuriya. Reference ...

(starting 1 February) *

Uva Province Uva Province ( si, ඌව පළාත, Uva Paḷāta, ta, ஊவா மாகாணம், Uvā Mākāṇam) is Sri Lanka's second least populated Provinces of Sri Lanka, province, with 1,259,880 people, created in 1896. It consists of two dis ...

– Sirisena Amarasiri * Western Province – Pathmanathan Ramanathan

Chief Ministers

* Central Province –

Sarath Ekanayake Sarath Ekanayake is the former Chief Minister of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. He previously served as the 2nd, 4th and 7th Chief Minister of Central Province between April and June 1999, November 2000 and April 2002 and 2004 till 2015. He ...

* North Central Province –

Berty Premalal Dissanayake Berty Premalal Dissanayake (15 July 1954 – 27 September 2013) was the chief Minister of the North Central Province of Sri Lanka from June 1999 to 2012. He was of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and part of the United People's Freedom Alliance. He d ...

* North Western Province –

S. B. Nawinne R. M. Seneviratne Bandara Nawinne (born 24 February 1946) is a member of United National Party and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was long time member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party but cross to the United National Party in 2015 General ...

–

(until 13 December);

Mohan Ellawala Mohan Saliya Ellawala (9 November 1948 – 12 May 2009) was the fifth governor of Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka from 2 October 2008, until his death in May 2009. He had previously been the seventh Chief Minister of Sabaragamuwa serving fro ...

(starting 13 December) * Southern Province –

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena (born 10 October 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician and landed proprietor. He is the current Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Political career He first entered parliament in 1983 as the Hakmana United National Par ...

(until 21 December); H. G. Sirisena (starting 21 December) *

–

Samaraweera Weerawanni Samaraweera Weerawanni is a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Chief Minister of Uva Province in Sri Lanka from Apr 1999 to Oct 2001 his wife Nalini Weerawanni Nalini Weerawanni is a Sri Lankan politician. She was the Chief Minister of Uva Prov ...

(until 29 October); Aththintha Marakalage Buddhadasa (starting 29 October) * Western Province –

Reginald Cooray Reginald Cooray (12 November 1947 – 13 January 2023) was a Sri Lankan teacher and politician. He was a provincial chief minister, a government minister, and governor of the Northern Province. He was briefly governor of the Central Province ...

Events

* Sri Lankan Civil War ** Eelam War III * 24 July – Bandaranaike Airport attack: The

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

launch a bold attack on

Bandaranaike Airport Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) ( si, බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ, translit=Bandāranāyaka Jātyantara Guvantoṭupaḷa; ta, பண்டாரநாயக்க � ...

. This would be one of the boldest attacks launched by the organization to date. Multiple aircraft ranging from civilian airlines to military helicopters were destroyed and damaged, and the nation's tourist industry was greatly affected. * October – A

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

of several

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

known as the Tamil National Alliance is formed, and begins participating in elections. The party runs on a campaign of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism and is formed in response to the oppression of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. * 5 December –

2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000. Background The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition ...

: The

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

led by the People's Alliance collapses, after the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress MPs and some other MPs leave the coalition. In order to avoid a

no-confidence motion A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

, President

calls for early

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

s. The United National Front led by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe defeats the incumbent People's Alliance, and Wickremesinghe is sworn in as the Prime Minister on 7 December. This led to a cohabitation government between the UNF and the PA which would last until 2004, where the president and prime minister were from two different parties.

Notes

:a. Gunaratna, Rohan. (1998). Pg.353, ''Sri Lanka's Ethnic Crisis and National Security'', Colombo: South Asian Network on Conflict Research.

References

2000s in Sri Lanka

Years of the 21st century in Sri Lanka {{Asia-year-stub