Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe (Sinhala: රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ; Tamil: ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. Previously, he served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. He held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment. Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party (UNP) since 1994 and has been Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on six occasions. Born into a political family, Wickremesinghe graduated from the University of Ceylon and qualified as a lawyer from the Ceylon Law College in 1972. He entered politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, first being elected to Parliament in 1977. Over the years, he held various ministerial positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Youth Affairs and Employment, and Industry, Science and Technology. He first became prime minister in 1993 following the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Wickremesinghe ran unsuccessfully in 1999 and 2005 presidential elections. In 2015, he was appointed prime minister by President Maithripala Sirisena, leading a coalition government until 2019. During his tenure, he faced a constitutional crisis in 2018 but was reappointed as prime minister after it was resolved. He lost his parliamentary seat in 2020 but re-entered Parliament in 2021 as a National List MP. In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was reappointed as prime minister amidst a political crisis. Following the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July 2022, Wickremesinghe became acting president and was subsequently elected as the 9th President of Sri Lanka by Parliament on 20 July 2022. He took office the following day. He attempted to run for a term in his own right in 2024 but failed to win reelection, finishing in third place with 17.27% of the vote.