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 area'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, 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 in 1984 by Vijaya Kumaranatunga.

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 (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) in 1988. The SLMP candidate, Ossie Abeygunasekera, 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 hands with the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the

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 ...

, and the Nava Sama Samaja Party 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 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 ...

, and Y. P. de Silva from the national list. De Silva was named deputy minister of foods. After de Silva's death, Dr Ranjith Navarathne became the party leader in 1997.

2000s

In the 2000 general election, Dr Navarathne was elected to Parliament from the Kurunegala District. He signed a memorandum of understanding with 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. In the 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 former Member of Parliament (Sri Lanka), Member of Parliament. Nawaratne was born on 9 January 1981. He is leader of the Sri Lanka ...

, the deputy general secretary of the party, succeeded him.

2020s

In the Presidential election 2024, Sri Lanka Mahajana Party support to President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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