The Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP; Sri Lanka People's Party) is a

political party 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 political ideology ...

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 ...

, founded in 1984 by

Vijaya Kumaranatunga Kovilage Anton Vijaya Kumaranatunga ( si, කොවිලගේ ඇන්ටන් විජය කුමාරණතුංග; ta, விஜய_குமாரணதுங்க; 9 October 1945 – 16 February 1988), popularly known as Vijaya ...

History

1980s

Vijaya Kumaranatunga founded the party in 1984 and led it until his assassination in 1988. His wife, Chandrika Kumaranatunga, led the party for a short time after his death. The SLMP supported the Provincial Council Act and ran against 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), ...

(UNP) in 1988. The SLMP candidate,

Ossie Abeygunasekera Ahangama Withanage Oswin Nandimithra Abeyagoonasekera (known as ''Ossie Abeygunasekera'') was a Member of Parliament and chairman and the leader of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya or Party. He was assassinated by a female suicide bomber of t ...

, placed third in that year's presidential election with 235,719 votes (4.63%). Abeygunasekara served as the party's leader until he crossed over to the UNP in 1993. The party lost 117 leading members during the revolution of 1988–89, including Vijaya Kumaranatunga, Pohoddaramulle Pemaloka Thero, T. B. Wijesuriya, and Deva Bandara Senarathne. Shortly after Kumaranatunga's assassination, the SLMP joined with the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, 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� ...

, and the

Nava Sama Samaja Party The Nava Sama Samaja Pakshaya (''New Equal Society Party'') is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It was formed through the expulsion from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) of the Vama Samsamja tendency led by Dr Vickrambahu (Bahu), Suma ...

to form the United Socialist Alliance. In the general election of 1989, the alliance received 160,271 votes (2.86%) and three seats in Parliament.

1990s

After Abeygunasekera left the party, Y. P. de Silva became its leader. Under him, in 1993, the SLMP joined the People's Alliance. The People's Alliance won the 1994 presidential election, and Chandrika Kumaranatunga became the president of Sri Lanka. In the general election the same year, two members were elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

: Bharatha Luxman Premachandra for the Colombo District, and Y. P. de Silva from the national list. De Silva was named deputy minister of foods. After de Silva's death, Ranjith Navarathne became the party leader in 1997.

2000s

In the 2000 general election, Dr Ranjith Navarathne was elected to Parliament in the

Kurunegala District Kurunegala is a district in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Consists of and consists 30 Divisional Secretariats, 1610 Grama Niladari Divisions and 4476 total Villages. It consists of 14 Electorate Divisions, 02 Municipal Council, 19 Urban ...

. He signed a memorandum of understanding with the

United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக� ...

in 2004. In legislative elections on 2 April 2004, the United People's Freedom Alliance won 45.6% of the popular vote and 105 out of 225 seats. Dr Navarathne died on 1 May 2013, and his son,

Asanka Nawaratne Asanka Samithajeewa Navarathne (born 9 January 1981) is a Sri Lankan politician, former provincial councillor and Member of Parliament. Nawaratne was born on 9 January 1981. He is leader of the Sri Lanka People's Party. He was a member of Kurun ...

, the deputy general secretary of the party, took his place.

References

External links

1984 establishments in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 1984 Political parties in Sri Lanka Socialist Alliance (Sri Lanka) United People's Freedom Alliance {{SriLanka-party-stub