Sri Lanka People's Front ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ இலங்கை பொதுஜன முன்னணி | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | SLPP |
| Leader | Mahinda Rajapaksa[1] |
| Chairperson | Ven. Prof. Uthurawala Dhammarathana Thero[2] |
| General Secretary | Sagara Kariyawasam |
| Founder | Basil Rajapaksa |
| Founded | 2016; 9 years ago (2016) |
| Split from | Sri Lanka Freedom Party[3] |
| Preceded by | Sri Lanka National Front |
| Headquarters | 1316 Nelum Mawatha, Jayanthipura,Battaramulla[4] |
| Youth wing | Sri Lanka People's Youth Front |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[12] |
| National affiliation | Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance |
| Colours | Maroon |
| Slogan | අපි අපේ රට හදමු! ('Let's Build Our Country!') |
| Parliament of Sri Lanka | 3 / 225 |
| Local Government Bodies | 0 / 341 |
| Local Government Members | 745 / 7,812 |
| Election symbol | |
Flower bud | |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| slpp.org | |
| Part ofa series on the |
| Aragalaya |
|---|
 |
| Background |
| Economic crisis (2019–2024) |
| Political crisis (2022–2024) |
Opponents & demands
1. Resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa2. Accountability for corruption3. Economic reforms4. Access to essential services5. Political reforms6. Youth participation |
| Legacy |
Legacy |
TheSri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP;Sinhala:ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ,romanised: Śrī Laṃkā Podujana Peramuna;Tamil:இலங்கை பொதுஜன முன்னணி,romanised: Ilaṅkai Potujaṉa Muṉṉaṇi; English:Sri Lanka People's Front) is apolitical party in Sri Lanka. It was the ruling party of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party inparliament from 2020 to 2024.[13] Previously aminor political party known as theSri Lanka National Front and later theOur Sri Lanka Freedom Front, it was relaunched as the SLPP in 2016 as a base for members of theUnited People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leaderMahinda Rajapaksa and theRajapaksa family.[5]
The party was formed as a result of a split from theSri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), acentre-left,Sinhalese nationalist, andpost-colonial party.[11] The SLPP borrowed some elements of the SLFP ideology but not its economic outlook,[11] and is opposed tofederalism in Sri Lanka.[14] The party is led by Mahinda Rajapaksa,[15] formerpresident of Sri Lanka.Sagara Kariyawasam is the general secretary of the party.G. L. Peiris was formerly the chairman of the party before defecting to form theFreedom People's Congress.[16]
The Sri Lanka National Front (Sri Lanka Jathika Peramuna) contested the2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election in 15 of the 22electoral districts across the country. The party failed to win a single seat in theParliament of Sri Lanka after securing 719 votes (about 0.01% of all votes cast).[17] The SLNF contested again in the2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election in 17 of the 22 electoral districts but once again failed to win any seats in parliament after securing 493 votes (0.01%).[18] SLNF leader Wimal Geeganage contested the2005 Sri Lankan presidential election and came in eighth after securing 6,639 votes (0.07%).[19]
The SLNF contested the2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election in 19 of the 22 electoral districts but failed to win any seats in Parliament after securing 5,313 votes (0.07%) across the country.[20] Geeganage contested in the2015 Sri Lankan presidential election and came in last place, at 19th, after securing 1,826 votes (0.02%).[21]
In 2015, the SLNF changed its name to Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (Ape Sri Lanka Nidahas Peramuna) and its symbol from the cricket bat to aflower bud.[22][23] In early 2016, OSLFF leader Geeganage hinted that a change in the party leadership was soon to come.[24]
In November 2016, the OSLFF relaunched itself as the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, apolitical front for theJoint Opposition, and appointedG. L. Peiris, the country's formerminister of foreign affairs and Rajapaksa ally, as its chairman.[25][26] AttorneySagara Kariyawasam, a former organiser of theSri Lanka Freedom Party and attorney for former president Rajapaksa and his brother, former defence secretaryGotabaya Rajapaksa,[27][28][29] was appointed as the party secretary. The flower bud remained as the symbol of the party.[30][31]Basil Rajapaksa, another brother of Rajapaksa, joined the SLPP shortly after it was relaunched.[32]
In the2018 Sri Lankan local elections, in a surprise result, the SLPP won a 40% plurality of votes, emerging as the party with the most councilors and local authorities;[33][34] they won 239Local Government Bodies including Municipals Councils, Urban Councils, and Pradeshiya Sabhas.[35] The SLPP contested in the election under its flower bud symbol.[36] In the2019 Sri Lankan presidential election, the younger brother of the Rajapaksas contested in the elections as the SLPP candidate and later won the election and was sworn in as the newpresident of Sri Lanka.[37][38] In the2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, the SLPP won a landslide victory and a clear majority in the parliament, winning 116 seats in Parliament. Five members of the Rajapaksa family won seats in the parliament, and the former president Rajapaksa was sworn in as the newprime minister of Sri Lanka.[39]
The Rajapaksa administration introduced massive tax cuts in late 2019,[40] which lead to a drop in government revenue that was soon compounded with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the island nation losing its lucrative US$3 billion tourism industry that put 200,000 out of work in 2020 and most of 2021. Although the export sector picked up by 2021 and tourism started picking up, it appeared that Sri Lanka was facing its most severeeconomic crisis since its independence in 1948 due to the loss of revenue from tax cuts, rampant money printing and unsustainable borrowings. By end of 2021, Sri Lanka was facing adebt crisis with a possibility ofsovereign default. According to a poll conducted byVerité Research in March 2022, the government's approval rating had fallen to just 10% as a result of the crisis.[41]
Following severe shortages of fuel, the state ownedCeylon Electricity Board was forced to implement 10–13 hour power cuts across the island in late March. The SLPP government was beginning to grow increasingly unpopular. This triggered the2022 Sri Lankan protests, which demanded the resignation ofGotabaya Rajapaksa and other key officials from the Rajapaksa family.[42][43][44] On 3 April, several ministers in thesecond Gotabaya Rajapaksa cabinet submitted their resignations. This included three ministers from the Rajapaksa family:Chamal Rajapaksa,Basil Rajapaksa, andNamal Rajapaksa.[45] The president was to announce the new cabinet the following day. On 18 April, Rajapaksa appointed 17 new cabinet members, selected among his party members. This move was seen as a sign of Rajapaksa's lack of willingness to listen and adhere to the protesters' demands.[46]
On 9 May, Rajapaksa tendered his resignation as prime minister to the president.[47] Rajapaksa was heavily criticised by netizens and the public for resigning after instigating violence against peaceful protests.[48]Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the new prime minister on 12 May. Eventually, protests peaked on 9 July, after large numbers of protesters gathered at Chatham Street, near thePresident's House, Colombo, demanding his immediate resignation. Protesters also broke into thePresidential Secretariat andTemple Trees, the prime minister's official residence,[49] and gathered around the private residence at115 Fifth Lane of Wickremesinghe. Thespeaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka issued a statement that night that Rajapaksa would resign from office on 13 July.[50][51] Political parties including the country'sopposition agreed to form an all-party interim government after the president's resignation.[52][53] Wickremesinghe also announced that he would be willing to resign as prime minister, saying that he would do so once a new government was formed.[54][55]
On the morning of 13 July, Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka and appointed Wickremesinghe as acting president in his absence. Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the speaker of the parliament on 14 July the next day, thus marking the end of Rajapaksa's presidency.[56] The news of his resignation was celebrated by the public mainly atGalle Face and also in the other parts of Colombo.[57] On 15 July, the parliamentary speakerMahinda Yapa Abewardhana announced the official resignation of Rajapaksa.[58] Wickremesinghe was officially sworn in as the acting president,[59] and was later elected in the2022 Sri Lankan presidential election by the Parliament of Sri Lanka to complete the remainder of Rajapaksa's term.[60]
During the 2022 Sri Lankan presidential election,Dinesh Gunawardena temporarily succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa as thede facto leader of the SLPP.[61] Gunawardena would later become Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. On 15 December 2023, the National Convention of the SLPP was held, in which Mahinda Rajapaksa was reappointed as the party leader.[62][63]
In 2024, there was much speculation whether the SLPP would field its own candidate or endorse incumbent presidentRanil Wickremesinghe at the2024 presidential election. In late July 2024, the SLPP announced that it would not endorse Wickremesinghe in the election.[64] On 7 August 2024, the SLPP announcedNamal Rajapaksa, son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, as its candidate in the 2024 presidential election. He was the youngest candidate in the election.[65] Rajapaksa was eliminated after the first vote count, placing 4th behindAnura Kumara Dissanayake,Sajith Premadasa andRanil Wickremesinghe and winning only 2.57% of the popular vote.[66]
In the2024 parliamentary election, the SLPP, which had previously been the largest party in parliament, collapsed to just 3 seats, winning only 3.14% of the popular vote and becoming the 5th largest party in parliament.[67][68]
The SLPP split from theSri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), acentre-left,Sinhalese nationalist, andpost-colonial party, which political scientistJayadeva Uyangoda described as "a progressive, social democratic, centre-left political party, that made tremendous contribution to social change and democracy".[11] The SLPP borrowed the elements of nationalism from the SLFP but not its economic outlook.[11] The party is opposed tofederalism in Sri Lanka.[14]
In 2019, the SLPP began to outperform the SLFP, which did not field a candidate in the2019 presidential election.[11] The split and rightward turn of the SLPP,[3] which moved towardsneo-nationalism andright-wing populism,[8][9] corresponded with the shifts of the nation's two other major parties:Anura Kumara Dissanayake'sleftistJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna moved closer tosocial democracy anddemocratic socialism, whileSajith Premadasa's free-market orientedUnited National Party (and later theSamagi Jana Balawegaya) became more supportive ofwelfare.[11] Uyangoda described the SLPP as "a right wing, neo-conservative party that favours authoritarianism", and commented: "Though ironically created by the SLFP, the SLPP doesn't replace it, it merely displaces it. The SLPP will undoubtedly tread a free market-oriented path but have Mahinda Rajapaksa to disguise its policy in state-capitalist rhetoric."[11] Ahead of the 2019 elections, Deshika Elapata, a junior researcher of the European Institute for Asian Studies, described the SLPP as "a socially right-wing and economically left-wing party rooted in Sinhalese nationalism and social democracy".[6]
| Election year | Candidate | Votes | % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Wimal Geeganage | 6,639 | 0.07% | Lost |
| 2015 | Wimal Geeganage | 1,826 | 0.02% | Lost |
| 2019 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | 6,924,255 | 52.25% | Won |
| 2022[a] | SupportedRanil Wickremesinghe | 134 (E.V) | 61.19% | Won |
| Dullas Alahapperuma | 82 (E.V) | 37.44% | Lost | |
| 2024 | Namal Rajapaksa | 342,781 | 2.57% | Lost |
| Election year | Votes | Vote % | Seats won | +/– | Leader | Result for the party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 719 | 0.01% | 0 / 225 | New | Wimal Geeganage | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2004 | 493 | 0.01% | 0 / 225 |  | Wimal Geeganage | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2010 | 5,313 | 0.07% | 0 / 225 | | Wimal Geeganage | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2020 | 6,853,690 | 59.09% | 145 / 225 [b] |  145 | Mahinda Rajapaksa | Government |
| 2024 | 350,429 | 3.14% | 3 / 225 |  142 | Opposition |
| Election year | Votes | Vote % | Councillors | +/– | Local Authorities | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5,006,837 | 40.47% | 3,436 / 8,327 | New | 231 / 341 | New | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| 2019 (Elpitiya) | 23,372 | 56.3% | 17 / 29 | New | 1 / 1 | New | |
| 2024 (Elpitiya) | 3,597 | 9.91% | 3 / 30 | 14 | 0 / 1 | 1 | |
| 2025[69] | 954,517 | 9.17% | 742 / 7,812 | 2,694 | 3 / 341 | 739 |
There has been a total of1 Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna president.
| # | Portrait | President (birth–death) | Home Province | Took office | Left office | Tenure | PM Portrait | Prime Minister (term) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Gotabaya Rajapaksa (b. 1949) | Southern | 18 November 2019 | 14 July 2022 | 2 years, 238 days | .jpg) | Mahinda Rajapaksa2019–2022 |
 | Ranil Wickremesinghe2022 |
In the growing Oppositional space, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Rajapaksa family, and Prof G. L. Peiris would naturally have been a strong, organic center-left or liberal-nationalist moderate center, but they have been pulled to or pushed by the neo-nationalist populist Right, due to the ideological gravitational effect or osmosis of the Buddhist clergy and civil society as well as Diaspora pressure groups.
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