81 Facts About Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who is the 9th and current president of Sri Lanka.

Ranil Wickremesinghe holds several ministerial positions, including the Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on five separate occasions, leading six governments, from 1993 to 1994,2001 to 2004,2015 to 2018,2018 to 2019, and for a few months in 2022.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was thereafter appointed as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Employment, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Sri Lanka.

Ranil Wickremesinghe succeeded D B Wijetunga as Prime Minister in 1993 following the assassination of Premadasa and Wijetunga's succession to the presidency.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed Leader of the Opposition in November 1994 following the assassination of Gamini Dissanayake during the campaign for the 1994 presidential election.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was the UNP nominee in the 1999 and 2005 presidential elections, but was defeated by Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, respectively.

On 8 January 2015, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as prime minister by President Maithripala Sirisena, who had defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 presidential election.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was removed as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 by President Maithripala Sirisena with the appointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, which Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to accept, resulting in a constitutional crisis.

Ranil Wickremesinghe resigned as Prime Minister on 20 November 2019, and was again succeeded by Mahinda following the 2019 presidential election.

Ranil Wickremesinghe contested the 2020 parliamentary election but failed to secure a seat in Parliament.

Ranil Wickremesinghe re-entered Parliament as a National List MP of the United National Party, and was sworn in as a member of parliament on 23 June 2021.

In May 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was re-appointed as prime minister by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

On 9 July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that he was willing to resign amidst mass anti-government protests that saw his personal residence set ablaze, along with the residence of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaska taken over by protestors.

Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to resign as prime minister once a new government is formed.

Ranil Wickremesinghe became the acting president on 13 July 2022, after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.

Rajapaksa resigned on 14 July 2022, and the next day, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting president of Sri Lanka.

On 20 July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as the 9th President via an election by parliament.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's father was a lawyer who became a press baron taking over the Lake House Group of newspapers.

Ranil Wickremesinghe entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Ceylon at its Colombo Campus which is the University of Colombo.

Ranil Wickremesinghe became an Attorney at law following the changes to the legal profession in 1973.

Ranil Wickremesinghe joined the United National Party and progressed through its ranks.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the chief organizer of the Kelaniya Electorate in the mid-1970s, and was later appointed as the chief organizer of the Biyagama Electorate, which he won in the 1977 parliamentary elections and entered parliament.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was later made the Minister of Education on 14 February 1980.

Under the Presidency of Ranasinghe Premadasa, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the Minister of Industry on 18 February 1989, under which he initiated industrial reforms and established the Biyagama Special Economic Zone.

Ranil Wickremesinghe had competition from his senior colleagues in the UNP, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake, who had been rivals of President Premadasa.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed the Leader of the House in 1989.

The People's Alliance government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, appointed a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate activities of Batalanda and on 3 September 1997 Ranil Wickremesinghe was summoned to testify before the commission.

On 7 May 1993, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as prime minister after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers and Prime Minister D B Wijetunga was appointed president.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated in the race for Opposition Leader by two votes by fellow UNP member Gamini Dissanayake, who had re-joined the party.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was seen as a cooperative opposition leader who gave the government a chance to carry out its agenda in its early days.

Although, according to the constitution, both head of state and head of government was the President, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to appoint his own cabinet and he had the actual control over the government.

Ranil Wickremesinghe expected their economical backing to overcome the economic crisis.

Ranil Wickremesinghe largely took assistance, especially from Norway, to resolve the ongoing ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.

Ranil Wickremesinghe met the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi and the Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Ranil Wickremesinghe believed a political solution based on a United Sri Lanka was the permanent solution to the ethnic problem in the country.

Ranil Wickremesinghe believed that such a solution could be reached through a peaceful negotiation process with LTTE.

Three months after the election Ranil Wickremesinghe's government entered into a ceasefire agreement with LTTE.

Analysts saw Ranil Wickremesinghe was fanning the internecine feuds among the Tigers and systematically weakening them and a foreign policy intended to tighten the global dragnet against the LTTE.

Ranil Wickremesinghe remained in the post of the Opposition Leader until 2015, when Maithripala Sirisena who was sworn in as the President, appointed him as the Prime Minister.

In December 2004, Ranil Wickremesinghe was chosen by the United National Party as its presidential candidate for Presidential Elections due in late 2005.

Ranil Wickremesinghe signed an Alliance Agreement with twelve other opposition parties in November 2009 and he announced that a common candidate would be fielded for the presidential election which would be held in 2010.

In 2007, Ranil Wickremesinghe established a memorandum of understanding with the Mahinda Rajapaksa government agreeing to UNP's collaboration with the government on issues of national interest.

However, shortly afterwards, 17 of the UNP's 60 members in parliament, including the group who had challenged Ranil Wickremesinghe's leadership, led by deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya crossed over to the governing UPFA ranks in parliament and were given ministerial appointments.

In February 2008, Ranil Wickremesinghe was under pressure to step down from the party leadership to accept an advisory position, from a majority of the UNP's parliamentary group.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was accused of being a dictator in UNP during his time as opposition leader.

Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thero said that Ranil Wickremesinghe was acting like a dictator.

On 2010, UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara accused that within the constitution of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe Rajapaksa is not a democratic leader but a dictator.

Former minister and UNP MP Mahinda Wijesekara commented that "We don't need a dictator in the party," saying that Ranil Wickremesinghe opposed party reforms.

Ranil Wickremesinghe scored the highest preferential votes in the election with 500,556 votes, beating his rival Rajapaksa by a considerable margin whilst setting a new record as the candidate with the highest number of preferential votes in Sri Lankas' elections history.

Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to regain the majority in the Parliament and make it as the United National Party's Government, at the same time he promised to secure the futures of younger generations and instantly confirmed that the Government will launch 1 million jobs for the youth as well advancement for the education and health sectors will maintain as promised.

Ranil Wickremesinghe took steps to develop the former war-zones by touring the affected areas and met civil activists to discuss the issues faced by the Jaffna civilians and schools and to expedite investigations of missing persons.

Ranil Wickremesinghe took steps to uplift Northern Province communities and to improve their standard of living.

Ranil Wickremesinghe showed interest in Surbana creating a similar plan for Trincomalee in the Eastern province and an agreement was later signed with Surbana for the purpose.

Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed major economic reforms and proposed a knowledge based social market economy which will be built on social justice principles that will focus on the availability of global opportunities for education and strengthening of the health system to face health concerns of the 21st century.

Ranil Wickremesinghe planned on reducing high income disparity levels in the domestic economy and increasing exports.

Ranil Wickremesinghe launched a plan to reform state-owned enterprise, enter into trade agreements with India and China to increase market access and regain GSP+ to regain EU markets, restructure key investment promotion agencies, develop tourism, attract high spending tourists, and develop the rural economy.

Ranil Wickremesinghe organized the Sri Lanka Economic forum 2016 with the presence of international investor and Founder Chairman of Open Society George Soros and Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz and many other experts such as Ricardo Hausmann.

Ranil Wickremesinghe launched a loan and grant scheme for small and medium enterprises named "Swa Shakthi" empower rural entrepreneurs and develop the rural economy.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's party was only able to secure 34 councils out of 340 total councils.

Ranil Wickremesinghe said he refused to accept the dismissal claiming that it was unconstitutional which triggered a constitutional crisis.

Ranil Wickremesinghe chose to restart discussions to solve the Indo-Sri Lanka fishing dispute but strongly defended the Sri Lankan navy's right to shoot Indian fishermen that fish in Sri Lankan waters, stating:.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's policies were seen to attract investments and financial aid.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's government allowed a 99-year lease of a port to a Chinese company which caused protests in 2017.

Ranil Wickremesinghe worked to develop relations with Japan and Singapore, choosing them as his second and third foreign state visits after being elected as prime minister.

Ranil Wickremesinghe led the remaining party members in the parliamentary election which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the national list member of parliament of the UNP on 23 June 2021.

Ranil Wickremesinghe actively continued to serve as vice chairman of the International Democrat Union and chairman of the Asia Pacific Democrat Union.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was assured the support of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna members of parliament, while other parties refused to join his cabinet initially.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that he intends to form a national government with the participation of all political parties in the parliament and lead the country through the worst economic crisis in its history with less than one million USD in foreign reserves and unable to import essential fuel, food, and medicines, calling the months to come the most difficult in the country's history.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had formerly been a National List MP with his party represented by only one seat in the Parliament, became the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Technology, and Minister of Finance all at the same time.

Ranil Wickremesinghe defeated his main rival, Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82.

In September 2022 Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the UK as the head of state to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, at the invitation of King Charles III.

Ranil Wickremesinghe continued the government policies for economic recovery initiated during the last few days of his predecessor's term.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's administration continued power rationing and introduced fuel rationing to control the country's energy crisis, while increasing direct taxes with the aim of increasing government revenue to secure an IMF bailout package by late 2022.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was criticized for hosting celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Sri Lankan independence on 4 February 2023, while the country was amidst a crisis.

Ranil Wickremesinghe married Maithree Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan academic and Professor of English in 1994.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has made several efforts to keep his private life out of politics.

Maithree Ranil Wickremesinghe avoided the political spotlight until Ranil Wickremesinghe's re-election as prime minister in 2015.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's grandmother was Alice Ruby Meedeniya, daughter of J H Meedeniya Adigar of Meedeniya Walawwa, Ruwanwella and Corneliya Magdleine Senanayake whose mother was Corneliya Regina Senanayake nee Obeyesekere, sister of Lambertus Obeyesekere Maha Mudaliyar of Kataluwa Walawwa.