Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Sinhala:චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග;Tamil:சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க;néeBandaranaike; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initialsCBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifthpresident of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. She is the longest-serving president in Sri Lankan history. She led theSri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from 1994 to 2006.
Born in 1945 into a prominent Sri Lankan political family, she is the daughter of two former prime ministers,Solomon Bandaranaike andSirimavo Bandaranaike. Kumaratunga entered politics in the 1970s, initially focusing on social welfare and rural development. After spending several years in exile following theassassination of her husband,Vijaya Kumaratunga, she returned to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. In 1993, she was electedChief Minister of the Western Province. The following year, after becoming the leader of theSri Lanka Freedom Party, she formed the People's Alliance and led her coalition to victory in the 1994 parliamentary elections. In thepresidential election held later that year, she was elected as the first female president of Sri Lanka, defeating UNP candidateSrima Dissanayake in the largest landslide victory in Sri Lankan history, securing almost 62% of the votes. In the1999 election, Kumaratunga survived anassassination attempt during her re-election campaign and went on to win a second term, defeating UNP candidate and Leader of the Opposition,Ranil Wickremesinghe.[1][2][3]
She was responsible for the modernisation of the SLFP and the broader Sri Lankan left under the banner of “capitalism with a human face.” This marked a decisive shift from the inward-looking,state-controlled economic policies of earlier SLFP administrations. Kumaratunga’s approach maintained amarket-oriented economy while emphasising equity and social protection, contributing to improved economic performance and broadening the appeal of her party.[4]
She also played a key role in restoring a degree of normalcy to public life following the turbulence of thelate 1980s and early 1990s, a period marked by political violence, state repression, and widespread insecurity during and after theRanasinghe Premadasa presidency. Her administration focused on re-establishing democratic norms and reducing extra-judicial violence to bring on greater political stability.[5] During her presidency, Kumaratunga pursued peace negotiations with theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an effort to resolve the country’s long-running civil conflict. After the collapse of peace negotiations, Kumaratunga launched a military campaign known as the“War for Peace” during the Eelam III phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War - one of the conflict’s most intense and brutal periods of fighting. As part of a broader strategy to simultaneously isolate the LTTE politically and financially while pursuing a military solution, she succeeded in securing the group’s international isolation: many major states formally designated the LTTE a terrorist organization, cutting off key sources of funding and delivering a significant blow to its global propaganda network.[6]
Her administration also introduced a major package of constitutional reforms, the "2000 Constitution", aimed at abolishing the executive presidency and devolving power to the Tamil people. However, the proposed reforms were never implemented due to the withdrawal of support from the opposition.[7] Her tenure was marred by criticism of her use of presidential powers[8] and by allegations of corruption within her administration.[9]
The constitutional reform proposals introduced by her government are the subject of the recent documentary NEELAN: UNSILENCED, which chronicles the life and legacy ofNeelan Tiruchelvam, one of the principal architects of those proposals.[10][11]
A young Chandrika Bandaranaike with her mother, sister Sunethra, and brother Anura.Chandrika with Sri Lankan diplomatTissa Wijeyeratne in Paris, early 1970s
Kumaratunga was born into the prominent Bandaranaike family and spent her early years at their residence in Rosmead Place, Colombo, as well as at Horagolla Walauwa, her family's ancestral home. Her father, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, played a significant role in Sri Lanka’s early post-independence politics, serving as the country’s first Cabinet Minister of Health and Local Government in 1948. In 1951, he broke away from the governing party to establish the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), shaping the political landscape of the country. Contesting the elections that followed and strengthening the SLFP in the periods between elections; Bandaranaike became theLeader of the Opposition in 1952 and prime minister in 1956.[14] As prime minister, he was responsible for putting forth significant reforms such as the nationalization of bus companies and the Port of Colombo, a prohibition on caste-based discrimination, the removal of British military bases, and the establishment of diplomatic missions with a number of Communist states. He also made Sinhala the country's only official language, thus marginalizing the Tamils as well as members of the middle-class educated elite whose first language was English.[15] He was subsequently assassinated in 1959 when Chandrika was fourteen. Following this in 1959, his widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, assumed leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In the 1960 general election, she led the party to victory, becoming the world's first female prime minister.[16] Therefore, Chandrika was involved in politics from a young age along with her siblings as she was the second of three children in the family. Her elder sisterSunethra Bandaranaike became a socialite and her younger brotherAnura Bandaranaike joined active politics, going on to become a cabinet minister andSpeaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka as well as the youngest leader of the opposition.[17]
Chandrika was educated at theSt Bridget's Convent, Colombo, and enrolled at theRoman CatholicAquinas University College, Colombo to study for a law degree. However, in 1967, she left Aquinas for France without completing her law studies, on a scholarship from the Institute of French Studies. There she spent one year at theInstitut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence following a course in the French language and culture. In 1968, she went on to study at theInstitut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) graduating with a diploma in political science in 1970. She thereafter enrolled in a PhD program in development economics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, where she studied from 1970 to 1973.[18][19] She is fluent inSinhala,English andFrench.[20]
She returned to Ceylon in 1972, where her mother had become prime minister for the second time in 1970 and launched a wide-ranging programme of socialist reform, and faced a violentcommunist insurrection in 1971.[21] After returning she enrolled in and became active in the SLFP which had been founded by her father and now led by her mother. In 1974, she became an executive committee member of its Women's League.
She was appointed as an Additional Principal Director in theLand Reforms Commission (LRC) which acquired nearly 228,000 hectares of private land to the state under the Land Reform Law, which imposed a ceiling of twenty hectares on privately owned land. Leaving the LRC in 1976, she became the chairman of the Janawasa Commission, which establishedcollective farms from land acquired by the LRC. Following the defeat of her mother's SLFP government in the1977 general election, she left government service and acted as a consultant to theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations till 1979.
In 1978, she marriedVijaya Kumaratunga a leading actor, andLSSP turned SLFP political activist. She supported his election campaign in the by-election inMahara in 1983, where he lost in the recount. She left the SLFP in 1984 when Vijaya Kumaratunga formed his own party theSri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP) supporting his political activities against the policies of the mainstream parties. She served as the vice president of the SLMP. This resulted in her falling out with her mother and brother who were leading the SLFP at the time. On 16 February 1988, Vijaya Kumaratunga wasassassinated in front of his home inNarahenpita by gunmen in the presence of his wife. Chandrika Kumaratunga briefly took over the leadership of her husband's party, and formed theUnited Socialist Alliance with theCommunist Party of Sri Lanka, theLanka Sama Samaja Party, and theNava Sama Samaja Party. Although it was well organized, it lacked votes. Fearing for her life, she soon fled the country in 1988, seeking refuge in the United Kingdom. There she worked forWorld Institute for Development Economics Research at the United Nations University.
Following the end of thesecond JVP insurrection, Chandrika began visiting Sri Lanka in 1990 and re-engaging politics. In September 1991, the governingUnited National Party which had been dominating the political landscape was greatly weakened whenLalith Athulathmudali andGamini Dissanayake left the UNP and formed theDemocratic United National Front following a failed impeachment against PresidentRanasinghe Premadasa. DUNF soon mobilized the opposition against the Premadasa government. Having returned permanently in 1991, Chandrika rejoined SLFP and got actively involved in politics. In 1993, Athulathmudali and Premadasa were assassinated. Following Athulathmudali's assassination, Chandrika became the principal opposition candidate in the Western provincial council election, in which she was elected as theChief Minister of the Western Province on 21 May 1993.
Withgeneral elections called for in 1994, she became the de facto leader of the SLFP forming a coalition called thePeople's Alliance, which contested the general elections. In the election, Chandrika was elected to parliament from the Gampaha District in August 1994. Achieving a slim majority in parliament by gaining the support of theCeylon Workers' Congress, the PA formed a government with Chandrika as prime minister with her mother as a minister in the cabinet on 19 August 1994.[22] She also succeeded her mother as the leader of the SLFP. Soon thereafter presidential elections were called for in November.
Prime Minister Kumaratunga backed by the PA contested against Gamini Dissanayake, who was the leader of the opposition backed by the UNP. However, Dissanayake was soon assassinated by aLTTE suicide bomber and his widow Srima Dissanayake took over his nomination. Chandrika won thepresidential election in 1994 gaining 62.28% of the vote. Becoming the first female president of Sri Lanka in November 1994, she appointed her mother to succeed her as prime minister.[23]
Chandrika Kumaratunga's tenure marked a significant transformation in the party's economic and political orientation. During her presidency from 1994 to 2005, she modernized theSri Lanka Freedom Party and the broader Sri Lankan left by advocating a philosophy termed “capitalism with a human face.” This represented a decisive departure from the earlierinward-looking, state-controlled economic policies associated with previous SLFP administrations, especially those under her mother,Sirimavo Bandaranaike, policies which had led to economic stagnation, low investment, and widespread shortages. Her leadership also helped broaden the political appeal of the SLFP by shifting its traditional socialist stance toward a centrist philosophy that sought to combine free-market mechanisms with social democratic principles.
She was fined by the court a sum of three million rupees for unlawful land acquisition and subsequent sale of such land for the Water's Edge development project.[25]
ThePeople's Alliance government led by Kumaratunga launched theSudu Nelum Movement, an extensive national public awareness campaign aimed at preparing the public for a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict. Named after the “White Lotus,” symbolizing purity, peace, and unity and spearheaded by the then Minister of Telecommunications and MediaMangala Samaraweera, the objective of the SNM was to bridge the gap between the Sinhala and Tamil communities and to create awareness amongst the public of the necessity for power sharing. The Movement organized youth camps across the island and notably held a highly successful camp for Jaffna youth in the south. By mid-1998, the SNM had established 146 branches nationwide (including in Jaffna) and two international branches in Japan, launching its second awareness phase through the “Caravan” (Thawalama): a traveling series of street performances, theatre, exhibitions, and video presentations designed to foster inter-communal understanding. Another major undertaking was the reconstruction of the Jaffna Public Library, destroyed in the 1981 anti-Tamil pogrom.[27]
However, the peace talks and negotiations initiatied by the Kumaratunga administration unfolded as the LTTE resumed its violent campaign after violating the cease-fire and sinking twoSri Lanka Navy gunboats known as SLNSSooraya and SLNSRanasuru on 19 April 1995.[28][29]
After the LTTE sabotaged the peace talks, She pursued a military-based strategy against them, dubbed 'War for Peace'. This began what was arguably the most brutal phase of the Civil War,Eelam War III. The Kumaratunga Administration launched several major offensives such asOperation Riviresa (1995) which captured theJaffna peninsula from the LTTE,Operation Sath Jaya (1996) which recapturedMullaitivu andOperation Rana Gosa (1999).
Her government, led by Foreign MinisterLakshman Kadirgamar increased the recognition and acceptance of Sri Lanka on the international stage, which had been greatly affected by the riots and suppression of insurgency in the 1980s.[30] She succeeded in having theLTTE banned internationally; with the United States and the United Kingdom proscribed the LTTE on 8 October 1997 and 28 February 2001 respectively, thereby depriving that organization of a primary source of funding. Her government re-established formal diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, which had become a major supplier of weapons to the island.[31]
In February 2002 Wickremasinghe's government and the LTTE signed a permanentceasefire agreement, paving the way for talks to end the long-running conflict. In December, the government and the rebels agreed to share power during peace talks in Norway. President Kumaratunga believed Wickremasinghe was being too lenient towards the LTTE, and in May 2003 she indicated her willingness to sack the prime minister and government if she felt they were making too many concessions to the rebels. On 4 November 2003, while Prime Minister Wickremasinghe was on an official visit to the US, Kumaratunga prorogued Parliament and took over Defense, Interior, and Media ministries herself. Her opponents criticized her, calling her behavior dictatorial.[34]
UPFA Government 2004–2005
Kumaratunga's PA and the leftistJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) formed theUnited People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in January 2004 and dissolved Parliament. Having won theelection held on 2 April 2004, the UPFA formed a government withMahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister. This marked the first time in history that the JVP became part of a ruling coalition in the Sri Lankan government.[35] In June 2005, the JVP defected from Kumaratunga's government over a disagreement regarding a joint mechanism with LTTE rebels sharing foreign aid to rebuild thetsunami-devastated Northern and Eastern areas of Sri Lanka.[36]
Kumaratunga's six-year term ended that year in 2005. She argued that since the 1999 election had been held one year early, she should be allowed to serve that leftover year stating that she had a secret swearing-in for her second term a year after her formal swearing-in. The Supreme Court rejected this stating that her term ended in 2005.
In thepresidential elections that followed, Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected with 50.29% of the vote and succeeded Kumaratunga as president, leading all 25 parties in the UPFA. Kumaratunga was listed 25th byForbes magazine in its "100 most powerful women" in 2005.[37]
Participating in a protest in support of theNineteenth Amendment in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2015
In 2006, having remained the leader of the SLFP after leaving office, she "temporally" stepped down from the party leadership citing "continuous harassment she has faced after Mahinda Rajapaksa took office as president" and soon after left the country for self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.[38]
Kumaratunga noted in 2007: "I sincerely tried to reach a political consensus to solve the ethnic question, and tried to introduce a pluralistic constitution that would cater to the political aspirations of the Tamil people without dividing the country.″[39] In September 2009, Kumaratunga, on a personal visit toKerala, India told reporters: "I too care for my life. Even though the current government is a government of my party I don't feel safe." She continued, "There is an overall lack of freedom and an atmosphere of fear prevails in the country. The basic rights of the people and media freedom are restricted in Sri Lanka."[40] In February 2017, Kumaratunga accepted an invitation to join the eminent international Council of Patrons of theAsian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh.[41][42]
On 21 November 2014 Kumaratunga formally announced her return to active politics at a press conference held by the country's opposition coalition, following weeks of speculation regarding her involvement in the coalition's decision-making.[43][44] She successfully endorsedMaithripala Sirisena as the common candidate of the opposition in the 2015 presidential election, who defeatedMahinda Rajapaksa. In the same year, Kumaratunga supported theUnited National Party in the general elections to avoid Rajapaksa becoming prime minister.[45] In 2015 she was appointed as the chairperson of office for national unity and reconciliation to overlook national unity in Sri Lanka.[46]
In the aftermath of the2018 Maldivian presidential election, it was revealed that Kumaratunga was instrumental in forming the opposition alliance against incumbent PresidentAbdulla Yameen. Kumaratunga coordinated with opposition leaders in both the Maldives and Sri Lanka, bridging trust between the disputing opposition parties to form a coalition.[47]
During the2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis, Kumaratunga remained silent and later claimed she was not invited to the special convention of the SLFP on 4 December 2018.[48]
Following the election,Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga largely withdrew from active politics but remained vocal on national issues. She resigned as Chairperson of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) in November 2019,[49] shortly after receiving the 2019 Common Ground Award for her contribution to peace and reconciliation.[50]
In January 2020, theSri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) removed her from the post ofAttanagalla organiser for supporting Premadasa in the 2019 election, contrary to the party’s stance.[51] In April 2024, she filed legal action against former PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, seeking to prevent him from acting as SLFP chairman.[52]
Kumaratunga has continued to comment publicly on political and economic matters and has voiced concerns regarding her personal security and entitlements as a former president.[53] In 2025, following the repeal of ex-presidential privileges, she announced plans to vacate her official residence while recovering from hip surgery.[54]
Chandrika married actor and politicianVijaya Kumaratunga in 1978, who wasassassinated on 16 February 1988, outside his residence in the presence of Chandrika and their two children, then aged five and seven.
^Skard, Torild "Chandrika Kumaratunga" inWomen of Power – half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide, Bristol: Policy Press, 2014, 978-1-44731-578-0
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