Ranil Wickremesinghe
Who was Ranil Wickremesinghe?
Long-serving leader of the United National Party who became Sri Lanka's President in 2022 following mass protests that forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Ranil Wickremesinghe (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Ranil Wickremesinghe was born on March 24, 1949, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, into a family connected to politics. He studied at Royal College in Colombo and later attended the University of Ceylon. In 1972, he became a lawyer after qualifying from Ceylon Law College and built a career combining legal skills with a long-lasting commitment to politics. He is married to Maitree Wickramasinghe. He entered formal politics in the mid-1970s with the United National Party and was first elected to Parliament in 1977, beginning a legislative career that would last for decades.
Wickremesinghe rose through the UNP's ranks, holding positions such as Foreign Affairs, Youth Affairs and Employment, and Industry, Science and Technology. He first became Prime Minister in 1993 after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated, suddenly taking on the country's highest executive role. He became the leader of the UNP in 1994 and has led the party since then, making him one of Sri Lanka's longest-serving party leaders. Despite two failed presidential runs in 1999 and 2005, he remained a significant figure in Sri Lankan politics and occasionally returned as Prime Minister.
His term as Prime Minister from 2015 to 2019 under President Maithripala Sirisena was both cooperative and contentious. In October 2018, Sirisena controversially dismissed Wickremesinghe and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa instead, causing a constitutional crisis that stalled the government for weeks. The Supreme Court ruled the dismissal unconstitutional, reinstating Wickremesinghe. He lost his parliamentary seat in the 2020 election but returned to parliament in 2021 as a National List MP.
In May 2022, amid Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis in recent times, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made Wickremesinghe Prime Minister to help stabilize the government. Severe fuel shortages, food scarcity, and foreign debt default drove massive public protests. When Rajapaksa fled and resigned in July 2022, Wickremesinghe stepped in as acting president. Parliament later elected him as the ninth president of Sri Lanka. He served from 2022 to 2024, focusing on talks with the International Monetary Fund and restructuring the country’s significant foreign debt. His presidency was largely about trying to stabilize the economy amid strong public unrest.
Before Fame
Ranil Wickremesinghe grew up in Colombo during the last years of British colonial rule and the early independence era of Sri Lanka, a time marked by strong debates about national identity, governance, and economic policy. Born into a politically connected family, he attended Royal College, Colombo, one of the country's top schools. He then went to the University of Ceylon and Ceylon Law College, where he qualified as an advocate in 1972.
His legal education provided a solid base in constitutional and civil law, which later influenced his political views on governance and rule of law. He joined the United National Party in the mid-1970s, a time when Sri Lankan politics was highly polarized between the UNP and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. He was elected to Parliament in 1977, coinciding with a massive UNP win under J. R. Jayewardene, which also saw the introduction of Sri Lanka's executive presidential system. This significant political shift thrust the young lawyer into the heart of a quickly evolving constitutional landscape.
Key Achievements
- Served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka six times, more than any other individual in the country's history
- Led Sri Lanka's government during the 2022 economic crisis and steered negotiations with the IMF for a bailout program
- Was reinstated as Prime Minister in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled his dismissal by President Sirisena unconstitutional
- Served as the ninth President of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024, elected by parliament following Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation
- Led the United National Party as its chairman since 1994, maintaining the party's organizational continuity through prolonged periods of electoral difficulty
Did You Know?
- 01.Wickremesinghe holds the record for the most terms served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, having held the office six separate times across three decades.
- 02.His 2018 dismissal by President Sirisena and subsequent reinstatement by the Supreme Court was one of the few instances in South Asian history where a dismissed prime minister was judicially restored to office.
- 03.He lost his own parliamentary seat in the 2020 general election, one of the worst results in UNP history, yet returned to parliament the following year through the National List.
- 04.He was elected president not by a popular vote but by a parliamentary ballot, following Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation amid mass protests in 2022.
- 05.Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party continuously since 1994, a tenure of over thirty years that has outlasted multiple changes in government and electoral defeats.