Sri Lanka Government

What is the capital of Sri Lanka?

Country Name	Sri Lanka
Full Country Name	Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Local - Long	Shri Lanka Prajatantrika Samajavadi Janarajaya (Sinhala)/ Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu (Tamil)
Local - Short	Shri Lanka (Sinhala)/ Ilankai (Tamil)
Former Name	Serendib, Ceylon
Etymology- history of name	the name means "resplendent island" in Sanskrit
Government Type	presidential republic
Capital Name	Colombo (commercial capital); Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)
Capital - geographic coordinate	6 55 N, 79 50 E
Capital Time Difference	UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Independence	4 February 1948 (from the UK)
National Holiday	Independence Day (National Day), 4 February (1948)
Constitution	history: several previous; latest adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978 amendments: proposed by Parliament; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote of its total membership, certification by the president of the republic or the Parliament speaker, and in some cases approval in a referendum by absolute majority of valid votes; amended many times, last in 2020

Sri Lanka Capital City Map

Source: Google Maps

Sri Lanka Government and Politics

Who is the president of Sri Lanka?

Executive Branch:	chief of state: President Ranil WICKREMESINGHE (since 20 July 2022); the president is both chief of state and head of government; Prime Minister Dinesh GUNAWARDENA (since 22 July 2022); note - prime minister functions as deputy to the president) head of government: President Ranil WICKREMESINGHE (since 20 July 2022) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections/appointments: president directly elected by preferential majority popular vote for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 16 November 2019 (next to be held on 30 September 2024); prime minister appointed by the president from among members of Parliament for a 5-year term) election results: Ranil WICKREMESINGHE elected president by Parliament on 20 July 2022; Parliament vote - WICKREMESINGHE (UNP) 134, Dullas ALAHAPPERUMA (SLPP) 82 Note: amid public protests which began in March 2022, President Gotabaya RAJAPAKSA fled the country on 13 July and Ranil WICKREMESINGHE became acting president; RAJAPAKSA announced his resignation on the 14th, which was accepted by the speaker of Parliament the following day
Citizenship Criteria:	citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Sri Lanka dual citizenship recognized: no, except in cases where the government rules it is to the benefit of Sri Lanka residency requirement for naturalization: 7 years
Legal System:	mixed legal system of Roman-Dutch civil law, English common law, Jaffna Tamil customary law, and Muslim personal law
Suffrage:	18 years of age; universal
Legislative Branch:	description: unicameral Parliament (225 seats; 196 members directly elected in multi-seat district constituencies by proportional representation vote using a preferential method in which voters select 3 candidates in order of preference; remaining 29 seats, referred to as the "national list" are allocated by each party secretary according to the island wide proportional vote the party obtains; members serve 5-year terms) elections: last held on 5 August 2020 (next to be held in August 2025) election results: percent of vote by party/coalition - SLFPA 59.1%, SJB 23.9%, JVP 3.8%, TNA 2.8%, UNP 2.2%, TNPF 0.6%, EPDP 0.5%, other 7.1%; seats by party/coalition - SLFPA 145, SJB 54, TNA 10, JVP 3, other 13; composition as of February 2024 - men 213, women 12, percentage women 5.3%
Judicial Branch:	highest court(s): Supreme Court of the Republic (consists of the chief justice and 9 justices); note - the court has exclusive jurisdiction to review legislation judge selection and term of office: chief justice nominated by the Constitutional Council (CC), a 9-member high-level advisory body, and appointed by the president; other justices nominated by the CC and appointed by the president on the advice of the chief justice; all justices can serve until age 65 subordinate courts: Court of Appeals; High Courts; Magistrates' Courts; municipal and primary courts
Regions or States:	9 provinces; Central, Eastern, North Central, Northern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western
Political Parties and Leaders:	Crusaders for Democracy or CFD [Ganeshalingam CHANDRALINGAM] Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA] Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN] Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi or ITAK [Mavai SENATHIRAJAH] Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP [Anura Kumara DISSANAYAKE] Jathika Hela Urumaya or JHU [Udaya GAMMANPILA] National People's Power or NPP (also known as Jathika Jana Balawegaya or JJB) [Anura Kumara DISSANAYAKE] People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [Dharmalingam SIDDARTHAN] Samagi Jana Balawegaya or SJB [Sajith PREMADASA] Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Maithripala SIRISENA] Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM] Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance or SLPFA [Mahinda RAJAPAKSA] (includes SLPFP, SLPP, and several smaller parties) Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Sri Lanka's People's Front) or SLPP [Gamini Lakshman PEIRIS] Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [Selvam ADAIKALANATHAN] Tamil National Alliance or TNA [Rajavarothiam SAMPANTHAN] (includes ITAK, PLOTE, TELO) Tamil National People's Front or TNPF [Gajendrakumar PONNAMBALAM] Tamil People's National Alliance or TPNA [Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam VIGNESWARAN] United National Front for Good Governance or UNFGG [Ranil WICKREMESINGHE] (coalition includes JHU, UNP) United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMESINGHE]
International Law Organization Participation:	has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt
International Organization Participation:	ABEDA, ADB, ARF, BIMSTEC, C, CD, CICA (observer), CP, FAO, G-11, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, SACEP, SCO (dialogue member), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNMISS, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic Representation in the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Mahinda SAMARASINGHE (since 13 January 2022) chancery: 3025 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4025 FAX: [1] (202) 232-7181 email address and website: slembassy@slembassyusa.org https://slembassyusa.org/new/ consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, New York
Diplomatic Representation from US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Julie J. CHUNG (since 17 February 2022) embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 03 mailing address: 6100 Colombo Place, Washington DC 20521-6100 telephone: [94] (11) 249-8500 FAX: [94] (11) 243-7345 email address and website: colomboacs@state.gov https://lk.usembassy.gov/

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