The Freedom People's Congress ( ''Nidahasa Janatha Sabha'') is a political party in Sri Lanka founded by Dullas Alahapperuma,

G. L. Peiris Gamini Lakshman Peiris (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ගාමීණි ලක්ෂ්මණ් පීරිස්, Tamil language, Tamil: காமினி லக்ஷ்மன் பீரிஸ்) (born 13 August 1946) is a Sri Lankan poli ...

and several other former

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna The Sri Lanka People's Front (; ), commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It was the ruling party in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party in Parliament of Sr ...

MPs in 2022.

History

The party was formed after a faction of

MPs led by Dullas Alahapperuma and G L Peris defected from the Rajapaksa-led party on 31 August 2022, and chose to sit in opposition as an independent group of MPs. This followed Alahapperuma's decision to stand in the 2022 presidential election, against the wishes of the majority of his party, who instead supported then-acting

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

. A few days after the defection, the newly independent group named themselves the Freedom People's Congress, opening an office in Nawala. In December 2023, G. L. Peiris announced that the FPC would form an alliance with the

Samagi Jana Balawegaya The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB; , , ) is a centrist political alliance led by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. It is the largest opposition coalition in the Parliament of Sri Lanka since 2020. The alliance was formed with the approva ...

, the main opposition party, in 2024. This alliance was launched as the ''Samagi Jana Sandanaya'', and endorsed SJB leader

Sajith Premadasa Sajith Premadasa (, ; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District. He is the current leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Saji ...

as its presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.

Ideology

Founding members stated that the party's aim was to introduce reforms to free Sri Lankan politics from

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

and instead promote

meritocracy Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than ...

. The party's strategic framework emphasised the need to create

political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and ...

and economic freedom, primarily through

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

and free market capitalist economic policies, but also including interventionist policies such as

foreign exchange controls Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national b ...

References

{{Sri Lankan political parties 2022 establishments in Sri Lanka Nationalist parties in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 2022 Political parties in Sri Lanka Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sinhalese nationalist parties