The People's Alliance (PA; ; ) is a political alliance in
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, ...
, founded by
President
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* President (education), a leader of a college or university
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Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Chandrika Kumaratunga
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...
in 1994. The alliance came to power following its victory in the
general elections
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
that year, ending 17 years of
United National Party
The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka.
Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...
(UNP) rule.
The alliance was dissolved in favor of a
new SLFP-led alliance in 2004. In 2025, the alliance saw a revival and contested in the
local government elections that year.
History
Chandrika Kumaratunga era
The People's Alliance was founded in 1994 after Chandrika Kumaratunga succeeded her mother, former
prime minister
A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (; ; ; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government, world's first fe ...
, as the leader of the SLFP. The alliance was formed as a coalition consisting of the SLFP and other smaller
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 ...
parties.
The alliance won its first elections, the
1994 parliamentary elections, in a landslide victory, defeating their main opposition the
United National Party
The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka.
Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...
. The PA won 105 seats out of 225 in the parliament and formed a government with the support of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress which won seven seats and the up-country People's front. Chandrika Kumaratunga was sworn in as Prime Minister on August 17, 1994. In the
Presidential Election held on 9th November 1994, the Prime Minister Chandrika won with 65.2% of the votes, the largest landslide victory in Sri Lankan history.
The People's Alliance government, led by President Kumaratunga, which was elected on promises of peace, initiated talks with the LTTE, easing the Northern embargo as a goodwill gesture, to which the LTTE responded by releasing detained police officers. Four rounds of direct negotiations were held, focusing on humanitarian issues. The government aimed to pursue political dialogue in parallel with confidence-building measures, while the LTTE insisted on resolving humanitarian concerns first, postponing political discussions to a later stage. The talks ultimately collapsed after several months, following an LTTE attack on Sri Lankan naval vessels.
The PA would remain the ruling party of Sri Lanka for the next few years, successfully winning the
1999 Sri Lankan presidential election as well as the
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
parliamentary elections. However, the alliance was defeated by the UNP-led
United National Front in the
2001 parliamentary elections.
After the creation of a new SLFP-led alliance, the
United People's Freedom Alliance
The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA; ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ) was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004 and dissolved by former Sri Lankan President Ma ...
, in 2004, most members of the People's Alliance merged into the new alliance. The
CPSL and
LSSP threatened to reform the PA as a separate front, however, such alliance was never formed.
Revival
In
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
, in light of the upcoming presidential elections, the SLFP proposed to form a new alliance, led by the SLFP, in opposition to the incumbent government led by president
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 ...
.
The new alliance was revealed to be a revival of the People's Alliance, with the exact same name, which was originally founded in 1994.
The SLFP announced that former president Chandrika Kumaratunga would once again be leading the alliance, and Kumaratunga's SLFP membership was restored, marking her return to politics.
SLFP leader
Maithripala Sirisena
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...
was appointed the chairman of the new PA.
In
2025
So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
, the party contested the local government elections that year under the leadership of
Anura Priyadharshana Yapa
Yapa Appuhamilage Anura Priyadharshana (known as Anura Priyadharshana Yapa born 18 January 1959) MP for Kurunegala former Cabinet Minister of Disaster Management in 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa is also the General Se ...
.
Ideology
The People's Alliance (PA) advocated a mixed economic approach, identifying its economic framework as a market economy complemented by targeted welfare measures. Central to its ideology was the belief in maintaining market mechanisms while simultaneously safeguarding vulnerable populations through state intervention.
[ ] This was a radical departure from the
dirigisme
Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role, contrary to a merely regulatory or non-interventionist role, over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite ...
state-planned economics adovcated by the
SLFP at the time.
In addressing structural poverty, the PA outlined a National Programme for the Eradication of Poverty, aimed at long-term socioeconomic upliftment. Furthermore, the alliance emphasized the need for political restructuring through the vigorous implementation of a genuine and adequate devolution of power with a strong commitment to decentralization and regional autonomy within a unitary state framework.
Member parties
At the time of its dissolution in 2004, the alliance consisted of the following parties:
*
Sri Lanka Freedom Party
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...
*
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...
*
Communist Party of Sri Lanka
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (; ) is a communist party in Sri Lanka. In the 2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2004 legislative election, the party was part of the United People's Freedom Alliance that won 45.6% of the popular vote and ...
*
Sri Lanka Mahajana Party
*
Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna
*
Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party
*
Democratic United National Front
Electoral history
Parliamentary
Presidential
Local
References
External links
*
1994 establishments in Sri Lanka
2004 disestablishments in Sri Lanka
Defunct political party alliances in Sri Lanka
Political parties disestablished in 2004
Political parties established in 1994
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