The National People's Power (NPP), known in Sinhala as Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB), is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It is the current ruling party of

, having won the 2024 presidential and

parliamentary 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 ...

elections, and is currently the largest party in the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...

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 ...

Anura Kumara Dissanayake Anura Kumara Dissanayake (born 24 November 1968), commonly referred to by his initials AKD, is a Sri Lankan politician who has been the tenth and current president of Sri Lanka since 2024. Dissanayake is the first Sri Lankan president to be ele ...

is the current leader of the party and Nihal Abeysinghe is the general secretary. Established in 2019, the NPP consists of 21 diverse groups, including political parties and other organisations led by the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; , PLF) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was formerly a revolutionary movement and was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 JVP ins ...

. It contests in elections under the compass symbol. Considered an electorally weak

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

prior to 2024, it briefly formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

under president

following his election. In the subsequent parliamentary elections, the NPP became the largest party in the parliament for the first time with 159 seats, winning a

supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...

History

The NPP was formed by the members of the

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

and over 20 other diverse groups, including political parties, worker unions, women's rights groups and youth organizations including members of ethnic minority communities. It was formed as a coalition of left-wing and progressive parties that aimed to present an alternative to the existing political establishment in Sri Lanka.

Opposition (2019–2024)

In the 2020 parliamentary elections, the SLPP achieved a landslide victory as the ruling party, while 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 ...

became the main opposition party. The NPP only secured 3 seats and remained a third party. Dissanayake later said in a speech that he was not satisfied with the SLPP's victory and the NPP's defeat. When the

20th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka The 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed on 22 October 2020 by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament. 156 voted in favor, 65 voted against and four abstained from the vote. The 20th Amendment became a subject of politic ...

was announced, the NPP launched a protest against it.

In government (2024–present)

The NPP saw a surge in popular support during the

2022 Sri Lankan protests The 2022 Sri Lankan protests, commonly known as Aragalaya (), were a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Economy of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan ...

, amid dissatisfaction with the incumbent

political establishment In sociology and in political science, the term the establishment describes the dominant social group, the elite who control a polity, an organization, or an institution. In the praxis of wealth and power, the Establishment usually is a self-s ...

and the

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

. In the first vote count of the

2024 presidential election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. *2024 United Nations Security Council election *2024 national electoral calendar *2024 local electoral ...

, NPP presidential candidate

won a plurality of the vote, with 42.31%. Once the second round of vote counting concluded, Dissanayake was declared the winner and elected president, securing 55.89% of the vote. The following day, Dissanayake formed an interim 3-member NPP government. Shortly after his inauguration, President Dissanayake dissolved parliament and called for snap parliamentary elections, fulfilling one of his campaign pledges. In the elections, which were held on 14 November 2024, the NPP won a

, securing 159 seats in the 225-member Parliament of Sri Lanka. The NPP won every

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

except for

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

. The NPP's majority was the second-largest majority in the country's parliamentary history, and the first election since

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

where a single party managed to achieve a supermajority. The NPP secured 6,863,186 votes, the highest ever obtained by a single political party in a general election, surpassing the 6,853,690 votes won by the SLPFA in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. The NPP also won a record breaking 61.56% of the total vote, overtaking the previous record of 60.33% won by the UPFA in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. The NPP won the most seats in the

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a ...

, thus making it the first non-

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

political party to win this district. Altogether, the NPP won 21 out of 22 electoral districts, and 152 constituencies.

Vijitha Herath Herath Mudiyanselage Vijitha Herath (born 1 May 1968) is a Sri Lankan politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since September 2024. Herath has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Gampaha District since 2000. Early life a ...

, contesting from

Gampaha District Gampaha District ( ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ''Kampakai Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is the second most populous district of Sri Lank ...

, won 716,715 preferential votes, the highest ever recorded by a candidate in Sri Lanka. This surpassed previous records set by

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 ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

(500,566 votes),

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

in 2020 (527,364 votes), and

Harini Amarasuriya Harini Nireka Amarasuriya (born 6 March 1970) is a Sri Lankan sociologist, academic, activist, and politician serving as the 16th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 2024. Having spent a decade as an academic at the Open University of Sri Lank ...

earlier in the election with 655,289 votes from the

Colombo District Colombo District ( ''kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya''; ''Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a D ...

. The election also witnessed a milestone in women's representation, with a record 21 female MPs elected, the highest in Sri Lanka's parliamentary history. Among them, 19 represented the NPP.

Ideology

The National People's Power is ideologically

left-wing populist Left-wing populism, also called social populism, is a Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideology that combines left-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric often includes elements of anti-elitism, opposition to the E ...

and working-class centred. The NPP promotes a unique Sri Lankan economic model based on socialist principles and considers both

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

and "classical socialism" to be failures. The NPP claims to oppose excessive

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

and supports the state maintaining a role in energy, financial markets, and sectors directly related to national security while limiting involvement in profit-driven businesses.

Members

The NPP is composed of 21 groups, including political parties, youth organisations, women's groups, trade unions, and civil society organisations. *

* Aluth Parapura * Ethera Api * Public Servants for Public Service * National Bhikkhu Front * National Trade Union Centre * Sri Lanka Communist Party (Alternative Group) * Doctors for Social Justice * Samabhimani Collective * United Left Power * Inter Company Employees' Union * 71 Sahodrathwa Sansadaya * Aluth Piyapath * Mass Guiding Artists * Janodanaya * National Intellectuals Organization * Dabindu Collective * University Teachers for Social Justice * Progressive Women's Collective * Husmata Husmak * All Ceylon Estate Workers' Union

Leadership

As of 5 October 2024, the current office bearers of the NPP are as shown below.

Leaders

Electoral history

Presidential

;NPP presidents , there have been a total of 1 National People's Power presidents.

Parliamentary

;NPP prime ministers , there have been a total of 1 National People's Power prime ministers.

Local Authorities

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2019 establishments in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 2019 Populist parties Progressive parties in Asia Socialist parties in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan nationalism