Handapangoda Mudalige Chandrapala Gunasekera (known as Chandra Gunasekera) (10 June 1922 – before 2006) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as a Member of Parliament. He was the Deputy Minister of Culture and Social Services. Gunasekera first contested for a parliamentary seat at the 1st parliamentary election, held between August and September 1947, in the Attangalla electorate, representing the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (Literal translation, literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhalese language, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil language, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமா� ...

. He was beaten by the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

candidate,

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிட்ஜ்வே டயஸ் ப� ...

, 31,463 votes to 4,609 votes. At the 6th parliamentary election, held on 22 March 1965, Gunasekera ran in the Kottawa electorate. He failed to get elected and was defeated by the

candidate, Mahabalage Don Henry Jayawardena, by 2060 votes. Gunasekera received 13,911 votes (36% of the total vote). He was successful in winning the seat at the subsequent 7th parliamentary election, held on 27 May 1970, defeating Jayawardena by 11,495, securing 61% of the total vote. Prior to the

1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 July 1977. The result was a landslide victory for the United National Party, which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly. Background Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had b ...

s the Kottawa electorate was replaced by the Colombo East Electoral District, Gunasekera contested the seat of Attangalla, where he challenged the sitting member and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සිරිමා රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே; 17 April 191 ...

. He came third in the electoral race, 29,159 votes behind Bandaranaike and 18,496 votes behind the United National Party candidate, A. W. G. Seneviratne, only securing 2% of the total vote. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the first

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

party in Sri Lanka. He was educated at

Nalanda College Colombo ''Āpadāna Sobhinī Panñā'' , motto_translation = Character Illumines Wisdom , established = , founder = Patrick de Silva Kularatne , type = National , grades = 1 ...

. Gunasekera died prior to 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunasekera, Chandra 1922 births Year of death missing Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Government ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Sinhalese politicians Sri Lankan Buddhists