16th Parliament of Sri Lanka
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Overview
Legislative body	Parliament of Sri Lanka
Meeting place	Sri Lankan Parliament Building
Term	20 August 2020 (2020-08-20) – 24 September 2024 (2024-09-24)
Election	5 August 2020
Website	parliament.lk
Parliamentarians
Members	225
Speaker	Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena(SLPP)
Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees	Ranjith Siyambalapitiya(SLFP) (2020–22) Ajith Rajapaksa(SLPP) (2022–24)
Deputy Chairman of Committees	Angajan Ramanathan(SLFP)
Prime Minister	Mahinda Rajapaksa(SLPP) (2020–22) Ranil Wickremesinghe(UNP) (2022) Dinesh Gunawardena(SLPP) (2022–24) Harini Amarasuriya(NPP) (2024)
Leader of the Opposition	Sajith Premadasa(SJB)
Leader of the House	Dinesh Gunawardena(SLPP) (2020–22) Susil Premajayantha(SLPP) (2022–24)
Chief Government Whip	Johnston Fernando(SLPP) (2020–22) Prasanna Ranatunga(SLPP) (2022–24)
Chief Opposition Whip	Lakshman Kiriella(SJB)
Structure
Sessions
1st 20 August 2020 – 12 December 2021 2nd 18 January 2022 – 28 July 2022 3rd 3 August 2022 – 27 January 2023 4th 8 February 2023 – 26 January 2024 5th 7 February 2024 – 24 September 2024

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The16th Parliament of Sri Lanka, known officially as the9th 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 the2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. The parliament met for the first time on 20 August 2020 and was dissolved on 24 September 2024.^[1][2]

The16th parliamentary election was held on 5 August 2020.^[3] The incumbentSri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance claimed a landslide victory in the election claiming the majority winning 145 seats,^[4][5][6] while the newly formedSamagi Jana Balawegaya won a total of 54 seats and theNational People's Power won 3 seats.^[7][8][9] The main oppositionUnited National Party suffered their worst ever landslide defeat in history, claiming only one national seat and receiving the fifth most votes in the elections.^[10]

The first official results were released on 6 August 2020 in the afternoon starting with the postal votes in the Galle District.^[11]

The SLPFA became the largest group in Parliament after securing 59.09% of votes and 145 seats whilst the SJB won 23.90% of votes and 54 seats.^[12][13] SLPFA managed to exceed the majority cutoff of 113 with obtaining 128 seats from election votes and 17 seats from the national list.^[14]

Summary of the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election^[15][16][17]

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats
				District	National	Total	+/–
	Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance[v] Ceylon Workers' Congress Mahajana Eksath Peramuna National Congress[i] National Freedom Front Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Socialist Alliance Communist Party of Sri Lanka Democratic Left Front[ii] Lanka Sama Samaja Party[iii] National Liberation People's Party Sri Lanka People's Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party[iv] Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	6,853,690	59.09%	128	17	145	50
	Samagi Jana Balawegaya All Ceylon Makkal Congress[vi] Jathika Hela Urumaya Sri Lanka Muslim Congress[vii] Tamil Progressive Alliance National Union of Workers United Progressive Alliance Democratic People's Front Up-Country People's Front United National Party (Sajith wing)	2,771,980	23.90%	47	7	54	New
	Tamil National Alliance[viii] Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization	327,168	2.82%	9	1	10	6
	National People's Power Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	445,958	3.84%	2	1	3	3
	Tamil National People's Front[ix] All Ceylon Tamil Congress	67,766	0.58%	1	1	2	2
	Eelam People's Democratic Party	61,464	0.53%	2	0	2	1
	United National Party (Ranil wing)	249,435	2.15%	0	1	1	105
	Our Power of People's Party Bodu Bala Sena	67,758	0.58%	0	1	1	1
	Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal	67,692	0.58%	1	0	1	1
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party[iv]	66,579	0.57%	1	0	1	1
	Muslim National Alliance	55,981	0.48%	1	0	1	1
	Tamil People's National Alliance Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Eelam Tamil Self Rule Party Tamil National Party Tamil People's Council	51,301	0.44%	1	0	1	1
	All Ceylon Makkal Congress[vi]	43,319	0.37%	1	0	1	1
	National Congress[i]	39,272	0.34%	1	0	1	1
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress[vii]	34,428	0.30%	1	0	1
	Independents	223,622	1.93%	0	0	0
	United Peace Alliance	31,054	0.27%	0	0	0
	All Lanka Tamil Mahasabha	30,031	0.26%	0	0	0
	National Development Front	14,686	0.13%	0	0	0
	Frontline Socialist Party	14,522	0.13%	0	0	0
	Social Democratic Party of Tamils	11,464	0.10%	0	0	0
	Tamil United Liberation Front	9,855	0.08%	0	0	0
	Socialist Party of Sri Lanka	9,368	0.08%	0	0	0
	People's Welfare Front	7,361	0.06%	0	0	0
	Sinhalese National Front	5,056	0.04%	0	0	0
	New Democratic Front	4,883	0.04%	0	0	0
	United Left Front	4,879	0.04%	0	0	0
	Liberal Party of Sri Lanka	4,345	0.04%	0	0	0
	National People's Party	3,813	0.03%	0	0	0
	Democratic United National Front	3,611	0.03%	0	0	0
	National Democratic Front	3,488	0.03%	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka Labour Party	3,134	0.03%	0	0	0
	Democratic Left Front	2,964	0.03%	0	0	0
	New Sinhala Heritage	1,397	0.01%	0	0	0
	United Socialist Party	1,189	0.01%	0	0	0
	Motherland People's Party	1,087	0.01%	0	0	0
	Eelavar Democratic Front	1,035	0.01%	0	0	0
	Socialist Equality Party	780	0.01%	0	0	0
	Lanka Sama Samaja Party[iii]	737	0.01%	0	0	0
	All Are Citizens All Are Kings Organization	632	0.01%	0	0	0
	Democratic Unity Alliance	145	0.00%	0	0	0
	Independents					42
Valid Votes		11,598,929	100.00%	196	29	225
Rejected Votes		744,373	6.03%
Total Polled		12,343,302	75.89%
Registered Electors		16,263,885
Footnotes: ^abTheNC contested separately in two districts (Ampara andPolonnaruwa) and with theSLPFA in other districts. ^TheDLF contested separately in two districts (Jaffna andVanni) and with theSLPFA in other districts. ^abTheLSSP contested separately in one district (Jaffna) and with theSLPFA in other districts. ^abTheSLFP contested separately in three districts (Jaffna,Kalutara andNuwara Eliya) and with theSLPFA in other districts. ^TheSLPFA contested under the name and symbol ofSLPP. ^abTheACMC contested separately in one district (Ampara) and with theSJB in other districts. ^abTheSLMC contested separately in one district (Batticaloa) and with theSJB in other districts. ^TheTNA contested under the name and symbol ofITAK. ^TheTNPF contested under the name and symbol ofACTC.

TheSri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance was able to form a government with a firm supermajority, withMahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister.

Amidstnationwide protests in 2022, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned andRanil Wickremesinghe was appointed as his successor.

On 13 July 2022, PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned on 14 July 2022.^[18] Ranil Wickremesinghe waselected president by the parliament on 20 July andDinesh Gunawardena was appointed as prime minister by president Wickremesinghe.^[19]

On 5 March 2024, the main opposition partySamagi Jana Balawegaya handed over ano-confidence motion againstSpeaker of the ParliamentMahinda Yapa Abeywardena, claiming that his actions failed to protect theConstitution of Sri Lanka by allowing the signature of theOnline Safety Bill.^[20][21][22] The motion was debated from 19 to 21 March, and was defeated with 75 votes for and 117 votes against.^[23][24]

On 23 September 2024, Prime Minister Gunawardena resigned, following NPP leaderAnura Kumara Dissanayake's victory in the2024 Sri Lankan presidential election and subsequent inauguration.^[25] The following day, Dissanayake appointedHarini Amarasuriya as prime minister.^[26] The same day, Dissanayake dissolved the parliament and called forsnap parliamentary elections in November 2024.^[27][28]

• The20th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed in October 2020.
• The21st Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed in October 2022.
• TheOnline Safety Bill was passed in January 2024.

The following are the changes in party and alliance affiliations for the 16th parliament.

• 5 April 2022 − 9 SLPP MPs and 16 more MPs formerly allied with the SLPFA government leave the government to work as independent MPs. The 14 SLFP MPs, 2 CWC MPs and ACMC MPMuszhaaraff Muthunabeen leave the SLPFA government and cross over to the opposition.^[29]
• 12 May 2022 − UNP MPRanil Wickremesinghe is appointed as Prime Minister and joins the SLPFA government.
• 31 August 2022 − 13 SLPP MPs leave the government and cross over to the opposition as independent MPs, including SLPP chairmanG. L. Peiris and SLPP MPDullas Alahapperuma.^[30]
• 15 November 2022 – 6 SLPP MPs leave the government and join the SJB.^[31]
• 18 July 2023 – 2 SJB MPs (Harin Fernando andManusha Nanayakkara) are expelled from their party for their support for the government. The 2 MPs cross over to the government as independent MPs, and are readmitted into the UNP a month later.^[32][33]
• 6 October 2023 – SLMC MPAhamed Nazeer Zainulabdeen is expelled from his party and loses his parliamentary seat for his support for the government. His replacement sides with the opposition, thus resulting in one seat less for the government.^[34]
• 1 January 2024 – SLFP MPShan Wijayalal De Silva crosses over to the SJB.^[35]

• 7 April 2021 –Ranjan Ramanayake (SJB/GAM) lost his seat after being jailed, replaced byAjith Mannapperuma (SJB/GAM).^[36]
• 6 July 2021 –Jayantha Ketagoda (SLPFA/NAT) resigned, replaced byBasil Rajapaksa (SLPFA/NAT).^[37]
• 13 September 2021 –Ajith Nivard Cabraal (SLPFA/NAT) resigned to becomeGovernor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, replaced byJayantha Ketagoda (SLPFA/NAT).^[38]
• 25 November 2021 –Mahinda Samarasinghe (SLPFA/KAL) resigned to becomeAmbassador of Sri Lanka to the United States and Mexico, replaced byLalith Varna Kumara (SLPFA/KAL).^[39][40]
• 9 May 2022 –Amarakeerthi Athukorala (SLPFA/POL) was beaten to death by a mob, replaced byJagath Samarawickrama (SLPFA/POL).
• 9 June 2022 –Basil Rajapaksa (SLPFA/NAT) resigned, replaced byDhammika Perera (SLPFA/NAT).
• 20 July 2022 –Ranil Wickremesinghe (UNP/NAT) vacated his seat after taking oaths as President of Sri Lanka, replaced byWajira Abeywardane (UNP/NAT).
• 19 January 2023 –Mujibur Rahman (SJB/COL) resigned, replaced byA. H. M. Fowzie (SJB/COL).^[41]
• 6 October 2023 –Ahamed Nazeer Zainulabdeen (SLMC/BAT) was dismissed from his seat after being expelled from theSri Lanka Muslim Congress, replaced bySeyed Ali Zahir Moulana (SLMC/BAT).^[34]
• 9 January 2024 –Chaminda Wijesiri (SJB/BAD) resigned, replaced byNayana Wasalathilake (SJB/BAD).^[42][43]
• 25 January 2024 –Sanath Nishantha (SLPFA/PUT) died, replaced byJagath Priyankara (NFF/PUT).^[44][45][46]
• 27 February 2024 –Uddika Premarathna (SLPFA/ANU) resigned, replaced bySarath Chandrasiri Muthukumarana (SLPFA/ANU).^[47][48][49]
• 4 April 2024 –K. H. Nandasena (SLPFA/ANU) died, replaced by M. G. Weerasena (SLPFA/ANU).^[50][51]
• 8 May 2023 –Diana Gamage (SJB/NAT) was disqualified from her seat after theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled she was not a Sri Lankan citizen, replaced byMujibur Rahman (SJB/NAT).^[52][53][54]
• 30 June 2024 –R. Sampanthan (TNA/TRI) died, replaced byKathiravelu Sanmugam Kuhadasan (TNA/TRI).^[55]
• 9 August 2024 –Manusha Nanayakkara (SJB/GAL) andHarin Fernando (SJB/NAT) were disqualified from their parliamentary seats after theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that they had been expelled from their party and had subsequently joined a different party. Nanayakkara was replaced byBandula Lal Bandarigoda (SJB/GAL).^[56][57]
• 21 August 2024 –Thalatha Atukorale (SJB/RAT) resigned, replaced byKaru Paranawithana (SJB/RAT).
• 23 September 2024 –Anura Kumara Dissanayake (NPP/COL) vacated his seat after taking oaths as President of Sri Lanka, replaced byLakshman Nipuna Arachchi (NPP/COL).