Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth <a href="/facts/President_of_Sri_Lanka/CvCPaUdN">president of Sri Lanka</a> from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as <a href="/facts/Prime_Minister_of_Sri_Lanka/6VrLLXvj">Prime Minister of Sri Lanka</a> from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. Wickremesinghe has held several ministerial roles, including <a href="/facts/Minister_of_Finance_(Sri_Lanka)/oFdCmJr9">Minister of Finance</a>, <a href="/facts/Minister_of_Defence_(Sri_Lanka)/j0SwnGbL">Minister of Defence</a>, <a href="/facts/Minister_of_Technology_(Sri_Lanka)/cFhERhPY">Minister of Technology</a> and <a href="/facts/Ministry_of_Women%2c_Child_Affairs_and_Social_Empowerment/LKS70TpI">Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment</a>. Wickremesinghe has led the <a href="/facts/United_National_Party/IXUaK4eL">United National Party</a> (UNP) since 1994.
Born into a <a href="/facts/Wijewardene_family/dmoMX6As">political family</a>, Wickremesinghe graduated from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Ceylon/0TabJaoJ">University of Ceylon</a> and qualified as a lawyer from the <a href="/facts/Ceylon_Law_College/6hBtYcXz">Ceylon Law College</a> in 1972. He entered politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, first being elected to Parliament in <a href="/facts/1977_Sri_Lankan_parliamentary_election/MqpFETbG">1977</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Ranasinghe_Premadasa/fRA7YF2o">Ranasinghe Premadasa</a>.
Wickremesinghe ran for president as the UNP candidate in <a href="/facts/1999_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election/Ib6qSqsQ">1999</a> and <a href="/facts/2005_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election/wxJFJ3aw">2005</a>, but was defeated both times. In 2015, he was appointed prime minister by president <a href="/facts/Maithripala_Sirisena/4LlEHyMa">Maithripala Sirisena</a>, leading a <a href="/facts/National_unity_government/Tkpepzm7">national unity government</a> until 2019. During his tenure, he was controversially sacked by Sirisena in 2018, triggering a <a href="/facts/2018_Sri_Lankan_constitutional_crisis/CraA8394">constitutional crisis</a>, but was reappointed as prime minister after the Supreme Court declared his sacking as unconstitutional. He lost his parliamentary seat in <a href="/facts/2020_Sri_Lankan_parliamentary_election/Uz2lnLAJ">2020</a> but re-entered parliament in 2021 as a <a href="/facts/National_list_member_of_the_Parliament_of_Sri_Lanka/wTygw5eR">National List MP</a>.
In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was appointed as prime minister by president <a href="/facts/Gotabaya_Rajapaksa/t2jIGmcc">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</a> amidst the then-ongoing <a href="/facts/2022_Sri_Lankan_protests/MbC0GFo3">political crisis</a>. Following Rajapaksa's resignation in July 2022, Wickremesinghe assumed the presidency in an acting capacity and was subsequently <a href="/facts/2022_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election/pUqtYn8f">elected</a> 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 full term in his own right in <a href="/facts/2024_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election/pUqtYn8f">2024</a> but failed to win reelection, finishing in third place with 17.27% of the vote.

Ranil Wickremesinghe open-in-new

Ranil Wickremesinghe