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The15th Parliament of Sri Lanka, known officially as the8th Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, was the meeting of theParliament of Sri Lanka with its membership determined by the results of the2015 parliamentary election, held on 17 August 2015. The parliament met for the first time on 1 September 2015 and was dissolved on 3 March 2020.

The15th parliamentary election was held on 17 August 2015.^[1][2][3][4] The incumbentUnited National Party (UNP)-ledUnited National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) won 106 seats, an increase of 46 since the 2010 election, but failed to secure a majority in Parliament.^[5] The main opposition alliance, theUnited People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 95 seats, a decline of 49.^[5][6] TheTamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representingSri Lankan Tamils, won 16 seats, an increase of two from 2010.^[5] The remaining eight seats were won byJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (6),Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (1) andEelam People's Democratic Party (1).^[7]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				District	National	Total
	United National Front for Good Governance[i]	5,098,916	45.66	93	13	106
	United People's Freedom Alliance[ii]	4,732,664	42.38	83	12	95
	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	544,154	4.87	4	2	6
	Tamil National Alliance[iii]	515,963	4.62	14	2	16
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	44,193	0.40	1	0	1
	Eelam People's Democratic Party	33,481	0.30	1	0	1
	All Ceylon Makkal Congress	33,102	0.30	0	0	0
	Democratic Party	28,587	0.26	0	0	0
	Buddhist People's Front[iv]	20,377	0.18	0	0	0
	Tamil National People's Front[v]	18,644	0.17	0	0	0
	Ceylon Workers' Congress	17,107	0.15	0	0	0
	Frontline Socialist Party	7,349	0.07	0	0	0
	United People's Party	5,353	0.05	0	0	0
	Puravesi Peramuna	4,272	0.04	0	0	0
	Tamil United Liberation Front	4,173	0.04	0	0	0
	Eelavar Democratic Front	3,173	0.03	0	0	0
	Our National Front	2,868	0.03	0	0	0
	United Socialist Party	1,895	0.02	0	0	0
	Jana Setha Peramuna	1,728	0.02	0	0	0
	Akhila Ilankai Tamil Mahasabha	1,628	0.01	0	0	0
	Okkoma Wasiyo Okkoma Rajawaru Sanvidanaya	700	0.01	0	0	0
	Nawa Sama Samaja Party	644	0.01	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya	626	0.01	0	0	0
	New Sinhala Heritage	502	0.00	0	0	0
	United Peace Front	488	0.00	0	0	0
	Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya	454	0.00	0	0	0
	Maubima Janatha Pakshaya	352	0.00	0	0	0
	Socialist Equality Party	321	0.00	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka National Force	236	0.00	0	0	0
	Liberal Party	118	0.00	0	0	0
	Democratic Unity Alliance	98	0.00	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka Labour Party	62	0.00	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka Vanguard Party	49	0.00	0	0	0
	Democratic National Movement	47	0.00	0	0	0
	Muslim National Alliance	33	0.00	0	0	0
	Independents	42,828	0.38	0	0	0
Total		11,167,185	100.00	196	29	225
Valid votes		11,167,185	95.58
Invalid/blank votes		516,926	4.42
Total votes		11,684,111	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		15,044,490	77.66
Source:Election Commission,Election Commission

The new parliament was sworn in on 1 September 2015.^[8]Karu Jayasuriya was electedSpeaker,Thilanga Sumathipala as theDeputy Speaker andSelvam Adaikalanathan as theDeputy Chairman of Committees.^[9][10]Lakshman Kiriella was appointedLeader of the House andGayantha Karunathilaka was appointed Chief Government Whip.^[11][12]

The Speaker recognised TNA leaderR. Sampanthan asLeader of the Opposition on 3 September 2015.^[13][14] JVP leaderAnura Kumara Dissanayake was nominated to be Chief Opposition Whip.^[15][16]

The Parliament became aConstitutional Assembly on 9 March 2016 in order to formulate a new constitution for Sri Lanka.^[17]

Thilanga Sumathipala resigned as Deputy Speaker on 25 May 2018.^[18][19] His replacementAnanda Kumarasiri was elected on 5 June 2018.^[20][21]

Following the withdrawal of the UPFA from the national government,Mahinda Rajapaksa andMahinda Amaraweera were recognised as Leader of the Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip respectively on 18 December 2018.^[22][23]

On 20 August 2015, the central committee of theSri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent party of the UPFA, agreed to form a national government with the UNP for two years.^[24][25]Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNP, was sworn in asPrime Minister on 21 August 2015.^[26][27] Immediately afterwards, amemorandum of understanding to work together in Parliament was signed by acting SLFP general secretaryDuminda Dissanayake and UNP general secretaryKabir Hashim.^[28][29] On 3 September, Parliament voted by 143 votes (101 UNFGG, 40 UPFA, 1 EPDP, 1 SLMC) to 16 votes (11 UPFA, 5 JVP), with 63 absent (43 UPFA, 16 TNA, 3 UNFGG, 1 JVP), to approve the formation of a national government.^[30][31]

Three UNFGG cabinet ministers were sworn in on 24 August 2015.^[32][33] A further 39 cabinet ministers, 28 from the UNFGG and 11 from the UPFA, were sworn in on 4 September 2015.^[34][35] Three more cabinet ministers, one from the UNFGG and two from the UPFA, were sworn in on 9 September 2015.^[36][37] 19 state ministers (11 UNFGG, 8 UPFA) and 21 deputy ministers (11 UNFGG, 10 UPFA) were also sworn in on 9 September 2015.^[38][39] Two more deputy ministers, both from the UPFA, were sworn in on 10 September 2015.^[40][41] A further cabinet minister from the UPFA was sworn in on 23 October 2015.^[42][43] A further cabinet minister from the UNFGG was sworn in on 25 February 2016.^[44][45][46] A UPFA state minister and two deputy ministers (one UNFGG, one UPFA) were sworn in on 6 April 2016.^[47][48]

The UPFA withdrew from the national government on 26 October 2018.^[49][50]PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, leader of the UPFA, dismissed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa.^{[51][52][53][54]} The following day Sirisenaprorogued Parliament.^[55][56] Aconstitutional crisis ensued as the UNP refused to accept the changes, describing them as unconstitutional, illegal and a coup.^[57][58] Over the next few days, Sirisena appointed anew cabinet consisting of MPs from the UPFA, EPDP and defections from the UNP.^[59][60][61] Despite the defections, the UPFA could not muster the support of a majority of MPs and with the TNA, which held thebalance of power in Parliament, announcing that it would support amotion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Sirisenadissolved parliament on 9 November 2018 and called for fresh elections on 5 January 2019.^[62][63][64] The UNP, TNA, JVP and several others challenged the dissolution in theSupreme Court which on 13 November 2018 issued astay on the dissolution until 7 December 2018.^[65][66][67]

Parliament re-convened on 14 November 2018 when 122 (100 UNFGG, 14 TNA, 6 JVP, 2 UPFA) out of 225 MPs supported the motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa.^[68][69][70] Sirisena and the UPFA refused to accept the motion of no confidence, saying that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had not followed parliamentary procedures.^[71][72] On 16 November 2018, parliament passed an amended motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa with the support of 122 MPs.^[73][74] Sirisena rejected the second the motion of no confidence as well, saying that he would not re-appoint Wickremesinghe as prime minister.^[75][76]

On 3 December 2018, following aquo warranto petition filed by 122 MPs, theCourt of Appeal issued aninterim order restraining Rajapaksa and 48 ministers from functioning.^[77][78][79] On 12 December 2018, 117 MPs, including 14 from the TNA, supported a motion of confidence in Wickremesinghe.^[80][81] A seven-bench Supreme Court unanimously ruled on 13 December 2018 that Sirisena's dissolution of parliament on 9 November 2018 was unconstitutional and null,void ab initio and without force or effect in law.^[82][83][84] The following day a three-bench Supreme Court refused tovacate the Court of Appeal's interim order but allowed for a full appeal to be heard in mid January 2019.^[85][86] Rajapaksa resigned as Prime Minister on 15 December 2018,^[87][88] and Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister the following day, ending the crisis.^[89][90]

2015

2016

2017

The following are the changes in party and alliance affiliations for the 15th parliament.

Light shading indicates majority (113 seats or more); dark shading indicates two-thirds majority (150 seats or more); no shading indicates minority government.

The 15th parliament saw a number of defections and counter-defections:

• 3 September 2015 – 41 UPFA MPs and 1 SLMC MP support the formation of a national government.^[153]
• 9 September 2015 – 3 UPFA MPs (Indika Bandaranaike,Sumedha G. Jayasena andLakshman Wasantha Perera) who had abstained from supporting the national government, are appointed deputy ministers.^[38][39]
• 10 September 2015 – 2 UPFA MPs (Anuradha Jayaratne,Dushmantha Mithrapala) who had abstained from supporting the national government, are appointed deputy ministers.^[40][41]
• 23 October 2015 – UPFA MPSarath Amunugama is appointed to the cabinet.^[42][43]
• 6 April 2016 – UPFA MPLakshman Senewiratne is appointed a state minister.^[47][48]
• 30 June 2016 –Democratic Party MPSarath Fonseka joins the UNP.^[154][155]
• 17 January 2017 – UNFGG MPAthuraliye Rathana Thero announces that he will function as an independent MP.^[156][157]
• 19 September 2017 – UPFA MPArundika Fernando crosses over to the opposition.^[158][159]
• 30 October 2017 – UPFA MPDuleep Wijesekera crosses over to the opposition.^[160][161]
• 10 December 2017 – MEP MPSriyani Wijewickrama joins the SLFP.^[162][163]
• 11 December 2017 – NFF MPWeerakumara Dissanayake joins the SLFP.^[164][165]
• 28 December 2017 – UPFA MPNimal Lanza joins the opposition.^[166][167]
• 15 February 2018 – TheCeylon Workers' Congress pledges support for the president.^[168][169]
• 8 May 2018 – 16 SLFP MPs, who had voted in favour of the unsuccessfulmotion of no confidence against Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on 4 April 2018, cross over to the opposition.^[170][171]
• 26 October 2018
  • UPFA withdraws from the national government.^[49][50]
  • 3 UNFGG MPs (Wasantha Senanayake,Ananda Aluthgamage andVadivel Suresh) pledge support for a new UPFA government.^{[172][173][174]}
• 29 October 2018 – A new UPFA government including UNFGG MPWijeyadasa Rajapakshe and EPDP MPDouglas Devananda is sworn in.^[175][176]
• 30 October 2018 – UNFGG MPDunesh Gankanda joins the UPFA government.^[177][178]
• 2 November 2018 – UNFGG MPS. B. Nawinne and TNA MPS. Viyalendiran join the UPFA government.^[179][180]
• 4 November 2018 – UNFGG MPAshoka Priyantha joins the UPFA government.^[181][182] Independent MPAthuraliye Rathana Thero pledges support for the UPFA government.^[183][184]
• 6 November 2018 – UPFA MPManusha Nanayakkara resigns from the UPFA government and joins the UNP.^{[185][186][187]}
• 10 November 2018 – 2 SLFP MPs (Wimalaweera Dissanayake andLohan Ratwatte) join theSri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).^[188][189]
• 11 November 2018 – 34 SLFP MPs^[a] and 1 UNP MP (Ananda Aluthgamage) join the SLPP.^[188][189]
• 14 November 2018 – 2 UPFA MPs (A. H. M. Fowzie andPiyasena Gamage) cross over to the opposition.^[190][191]Wasantha Senanayake andVadivel Suresh resign from the UPFA government and rejoin the UNFGG.^[192][193]
• 18 December 2018 – 3 UPFA MPs (Indika Bandaranayake,Lakshman Senewiratne andGamini Vijith Vijithamuni Soysa) cross over to the UNFGG government.^[194][195]

The 15th parliament saw the following deaths, resignations and disqualifications:

• 3 September 2015 –Sarath Chandrasiri Mayadunne (JVP/NAT) resigned.^[196][197] His replacementBimal Rathnayake (JVP/NAT) was sworn in on 22 September 2015.^[198][199]
• 15 September 2015 –Chamara Sampath Dassanayake (UPFA/BAD) resigned to becomeChief Minister of Uva Province.^[200][201] His replacementLakshman Senewiratne (UPFA/BAD) was sworn in on 22 September 2015.^[198][199]
• 19 January 2016 –M. K. A. D. S. Gunawardana (UNFGG/NAT) died.^[202][203] His replacementSarath Fonseka (UNFGG/NAT) was sworn in on 9 February 2016.^{[204][205][206]}
• 19 January 2016 –M.A.Salman Javid (UNFGG/NAT) resigned.^[207][208] His replacementM. S. Thowfeek (UNFGG/NAT) was sworn in on 26 January 2016.^[209][210]
• 2 November 2017 –Geetha Kumarasinghe (UPFA/GAL) was disqualified by theSupreme Court from being an MP as she holds dual citizenship.^[211][212] Her replacementPiyasena Gamage (UPFA/GAL) was sworn in on 10 November 2017.^{[213][214][215]}
• 18 January 2018 – M. H. M. Salman (UNFGG/NAT) resigned.^[216][217] His replacement A. L. M. Nazeer (UNFGG/NAT) was sworn in on 6 February 2018.^{[218][219][220]}
• 23 May 2018 –M. H. M. Navavi (UNFGG/NAT) resigned.^[221][222] His replacement S. M. Mohamed Ismail (UNFGG/NAT) was sworn in on 8 June 2018.^{[223][224][225]}