Leader of the United National Party

Leader of the United National Party of Sri Lanka
Incumbent Ranil Wickramasinghe since 12 November 1994 23 years, 11 months and 1 day
Appointer	Working committee
Inaugural holder	D.S. Senanayake
Formation	1947
Succession	Deputy Leader
Deputy	Sajith Premadasa
Website

Leader of the United National Party is the highest position of the biggest and oldest party in Sri Lanka. The leader is appointed by the majority vote of the working committee of the party who meets at Sirikotha, when the leadership position is vacant.

The United National Party often abbreviated as UNP (Sinhala: එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, pronounced Eksath Jathika Pakshaya, Tamil: ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, pronounced Aikkya Thesiya Katchi), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It is currently the main ruling party in the government of Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP is considered to have right-leaning, pro-capitalist, liberal conservative policies.

The party had seven leaders since 1947. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has been the leader since 1994.

Name	Portrait	Province	Periods In Party Leadership	Highest Position Held
D.S. Senanayake		Western	1947–1952	Prime Minister
Dudley Senanayake		Western	1952–1953, 1956–1973	Prime Minister (3 Terms)
John Kotelawala		North Western	1953–1956	Prime Minister
J. R. Jayewardene		Western	1973–1989	President (2 Terms)
Ranasinghe Premadasa		Western	1989–1993	President
Dingiri Banda Wijetunga		Central	1993–1994	President
Ranil Wickremesinghe		Western	1994–present	Prime Minister (4 Terms)

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka
• List of Presidents of Sri Lanka

References