National People's Power ජාතික ජන බලවේගය தேசிய மக்கள் சக்தி | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | NPP |
| Leader | Anura Kumara Dissanayake |
| General Secretary | Nihal Abeysinghe |
| Founder | Anura Kumara Dissanayake |
| Founded | 13 July 2019 (6 years ago) (2019-07-13)[1] |
| Headquarters | 464/20 Pannipitiya Road,Pelawatta,Battaramulla, Sri Lanka[2] |
| Youth wing | NPP Youth[a] |
| Women's wing | Progressive Women's Collective |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left toleft-wing |
| Colours | Maroon |
| Slogan | Let The Real People Win |
| Parliament of Sri Lanka | 159 / 225 |
| Local government Bodies | 266 / 341 |
| Local Government Members | 3,942 / 7,842 |
| Election symbol | |
Compass | |
| Website | |
| npp.lk | |
TheNational People's Power (NPP), known inSinhala as theJathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB), is acentre-left[11] toleft-wing[12][13][14][15]political alliance inSri Lanka. It is the current ruling party of Sri Lanka, having won the2024 presidential andparliamentary elections.PresidentAnura Kumara Dissanayake is the current leader of the party andNihal Abeysinghe is the general secretary.
Established in 2019,[1][16] the NPP is an alliance led by theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna consisting of 21 different groups, including political parties and other organisations.[17] It contests in elections under the compass symbol. Considered an electorally weakthird-party prior to 2024, it briefly formed aminority government under president Anura Kumara Dissanayake following his election. In the subsequent parliamentary elections, the NPP became the largest party in the parliament for the first time with 159 seats, winning asupermajority.
The NPP was formed by the members of theleftistJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna and over 20 other groups, including political parties, worker unions, women's rights groups and youth organizations including members of ethnic minority communities.[citation needed] It was formed as a coalition of left-wing and progressive parties that aimed to present an alternative to the existing political establishment in Sri Lanka.[18]
In the2020 parliamentary elections, the SLPP achieved a landslide victory as the ruling party, while theSamagi Jana Balawegaya became the main opposition party. The NPP only secured 3 seats and remained a third party. Dissanayake later said in a speech that he was unsatisfied with the SLPP's victory and the NPP's defeat. When the20th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was announced, the NPP launched a protest against it.[19][20]
The NPP saw a surge in popular support during the2022 Sri Lankan protests, amid dissatisfaction with the incumbentpolitical establishment and theeconomic crisis. In the first vote count of the2024 presidential election, NPP presidential candidateAnura Kumara Dissanayake won a plurality of the vote, with 42.31%.[21] Once the second round of vote counting concluded, Dissanayake was declared the winner and elected president, securing 55.89% of the vote.[22] The following day, Dissanayake formed an interim 3-memberNPP government.[23]
Shortly after his inauguration, President Dissanayake dissolved parliament and called forsnap parliamentary elections, fulfilling one of his campaign pledges.[24] In the elections, which were held on 14 November 2024, the NPP won asupermajority, securing 159 seats in the 225-member Parliament of Sri Lanka. The NPP won everyelectoral district except forBatticaloa.[25]
The NPP's majority was the second-largest majority in the country's parliamentary history, and the first election since1977 where a single party managed to achieve a supermajority. The NPP secured 6,863,186 votes, the highest ever obtained by a single political party in a general election, surpassing the 6,853,690 votes won by theSLPFA in2020. The NPP also won a record breaking 61.56% of the total vote, overtaking the previous record of 60.33% won by theUPFA in2010. The NPP won the most seats in theJaffna District, thus making it the first non-Tamil political party to win this district.[26] Altogether, the NPP won 21 out of 22 electoral districts, and 152 constituencies.[27]
Vijitha Herath, contesting fromGampaha District, won 716,715 preferential votes, the highest ever recorded by a candidate in Sri Lanka. This surpassed previous records set byRanil Wickremesinghe in2015 (500,566 votes),Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2020 (527,364 votes), andHarini Amarasuriya earlier in the election with 655,289 votes from theColombo District.[28] The election also witnessed a milestone in women's representation, with a record 21 female MPs elected, the highest in Sri Lanka's parliamentary history. Among them, 19 represented the NPP.[29]
The National People's Power is ideologicallyleft-wing populist[30] and working-class centred. The NPP promotes a unique Sri Lankan economic model based on socialist principles and considers bothneoliberalism and "classical socialism" to be failures.[31] The NPP claims to oppose excessiveprivatisation[32] and supports the state maintaining a role in energy, financial markets, and sectors directly related to national security while limiting involvement in profit-driven businesses.[33]
The NPP is composed of 21 groups, including political parties, youth organisations, women's groups, trade unions, and civil society organisations.[17]
As of February 2026, the current office bearers of the National People's Power are as shown below.[34]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Leader | Anura Kumara Dissanayake |
| General Secretary | Nihal Abeysinghe |
| Treasurer | Eranga Gunasekara |
| Deputy Secretaries | Harini Amarasuriya |
| Lal Wijenayake |
| No. | Leader (birth–death) | Electoral District | Took office | Left office | Tenure | General Secretary(term) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake (b. 1968) |  | Colombo | 13 July 2019 | Incumbent | 6 years, 218 days | Nihal Abeysinghe2024–present |
There has been a total of1 National People's Power president.
| No. | Portrait | President (birth–death) | Home Province | Took office | Left office | Tenure | PM Portrait | Prime Minister (term) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | | Anura Kumara Dissanayake (b. 1968) | Western | 23 September 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 4 months and 24 days | .jpg) | Harini Amarasuriya2024–present |
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | Result | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
| 2019 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | 418,553 | 3.16% | N/a | Lost | ||
| 2022 | 3 (E.V) | 1.37% | N/a | Lost | |||
| 2024 | 5,634,915 | 42.31% | 5,740,179 | 55.89% | Won | [35] | |
As of 2024[update], there have been a total of 1 National People's Power presidents.
| # | President (birth–death) | Homeprovince | Took office | Left office | Tenure | Prime ministers(term) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake (b. 1968) | | Western | 23 September 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 146 days[b] | ||
| Amarasuriya2024–present | ||||||||
| Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Result | Ref | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | +/– | % | ||||
| 2015 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | 543,944 | 4.87% | 6 / 225 | New | New | Opposition | |
| 2020 | 445,958 | 3.84% | 3 / 225 |  3 | 1.33% | Opposition | [36] | |
| 2024 | 6,863,186 | 61.56% | 159 / 225 |  156 | 70.67% | Government | [37] | |
As of 2024[update], there have been a total of 1 National People's Power prime ministers.
| No. | Prime Minister (birth–death) | Electoral District | Took office | Left office | Tenure | President(term) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harini Amarasuriya (b. 1970) | | Colombo[c] | 24 September 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 145 days[d] | ||
| Dissanayake2024–present | ||||||||
| Election | Leader | Votes | Councillors | Local Authorities | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | +/– | ||||
| 2018 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | 710,932 | 5.75% | 434 / 8,327 | New | 0 / 340 | |
| 2019 (Elpitiya) | 2,435 | 5.80% | 2 / 30 | New | 0 / 1 | ||
| 2024 (Elpitiya) | 17,295 | 47.64% | 15 / 30 | 13 | 1 / 1 | [38] | |
| 2025 | 4,503,930 | 43.26% | 3,927 / 7,812 | 3,493 | 265 / 341 | [39][40] | |
...the left-wing Jathika Jana Balawegaya or National People's Power (NPP) alliance emerged as the clear winner in the country's parliamentary elections
The National People's Power (NPP), a left-wing Sinhala coalition, secured a landslide victory, winning 159 seats in Parliament
Sri Lanka's left-wing National People's Power (NPP) coalition secured historic electoral victories in 2024
Sri Lankan politics changed course in September, when Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the left-wing National People's Power (NPP) alliance
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