Island of Change...

Mithripala Sirisena, Health Minister in Rajapaksa government, won the 2015 Presidential Elections of Sri Lanka. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa from United People's Freedom Alliance got 47.6 percent and Opposition candidate Maithripala Samisen from United National Party got 51.3 percent of the votes polled.

Rajapaksa conceding defeat moved out of Templetrees, the official residence of the Sri Lanka President after ruling for ten years. The results of elections were unexpected and dethroning of incumbent President Rajapaksa, South Asia’s longest serving leader, has come as a surprise to the world community.

Moreover, the results came as a shock to Rajpaksa who had called for snap elections in November 2014 and amended the Constitution of Sri Lanka to stand for a third term. In September 2010, under President Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka passed the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution and removed the two term limit on Presidents.

According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka normal term for President is six years although an incumbent may call an election at any time after four years in office. Further, the result ends a decade of rule that critics said had become increasingly authoritarian and marred by nepotism and corruption. The election results are seen as the most significant for decades in the island nation and a last chance for democracy.

#	Executive / Non Executive	President	Term	Party
1	Non-Executive	William Gopallawa	1972-1978	Independent
2	Executive	Junius Richard Jayewardene	1978-1989	UNP
3		Ranasinghe Premadasa	1989-1993	UNP
4		Dingri Banda Wijetunga	1993-1994	UNP
5		Chandrika Kumaratunga	1994-2005	SLFP
6		Mahinda Rajapaksa	2005-2015	SLFP
7		Maithripala Sirisena	2015-	NDF
Note: NDF: New democratic Front; SLFP: Sri Lanka Freedom Party; UNP: United National Party