Election 17 August 2015 Members 225 | Website parliament.lk Speaker Karu Jayasuriya (UNP) | |
 | ||
Meeting place Sri Lankan Parliament Building Term 1 September 2015 (2015-09-01) – | ||
The 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka is the current Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2015 parliamentary election held on 17 August 2015. The parliament met for the first time on 1 September 2015. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the maximum term of parliament is 5 years therefore the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka will meet for the first time no later than 1 September 2020.
Contents
Election
The 15th parliamentary election was held on 17 August 2015. The incumbent United National Party (UNP) led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) won 106 seats, an increase of 46 since the 2010 election, but failed to secure a majority in Parliament. The main opposition United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 95 seats, a decline of 49. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing Sri Lankan Tamils, won 16 seats, an increase of two from 2010. The remaining eight seats were won by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (6), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (1) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (1).
Results
The new parliament was sworn in on 1 September 2015. Karu Jayasuriya was elected Speaker, Thilanga Sumathipala as the Deputy Speaker and Selvam Adaikalanathan as the Deputy Chairman of Committees. Lakshman Kiriella was appointed Leader of the House and Gayantha Karunathilaka was appointed Chief Government Whip.
The Speaker recognised TNA leader R. Sampanthan as Leader of the Opposition on 3 September 2015. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka was nominated to be Chief Opposition Whip.
The Parliament became a Constitutional Assembly on 9 March 2016 in order to formulate a new constitution for Sri Lanka.
Government
On 20 August 2015 the central committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the UPFA, agreed to form a national government with the UNP for two years. Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister on 21 August 2015. Immediately afterwards a memorandum of understanding to work together in Parliament was signed by acting SLFP general secretary Duminda Dissanayake and UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim. On 3 September Parliament voted by 143 votes (101 UNFGG, 40 UPFA, 1 EPDP, 1 SLMC) to 16 votes (11 UPFA, 5 JVP), with 63 absent (43 UPFA, 16 TNA, 3 UNFGG, 1 JVP), to approve the formation of a national government.
Three UNFGG cabinet ministers were sworn in on 24 August 2015. A further 39 cabinet ministers, 28 from the UNFGG and 11 from the UPFA, were sworn in on 4 September 2015. Three more cabinet ministers, one from the UNFGG and two from the UPFA, were sworn in on 9 September 2015. 19 state ministers (11 UNFGG, 8 UPFA) and 21 deputy ministers (11 UNFGG, 10 UPFA) were also sworn in on 9 September 2015. Two more deputy ministers, both from the UPFA, were sworn in on 10 September 2015. A further cabinet minister from the UPFA was sworn in on 23 October 2015. A further cabinet minister from the UNFGG was sworn in on 25 February 2016. A UPFA state minister and two deputy ministers (one UNFGG, one UPFA) were sworn in on 6 April 2016.
Legislation
Composition
The following are the changes in party and alliance affiliations for the 15th parliament.
Light shading indicates majority (113 seats or more); dark shading indicates two-thirds majority (150 seats or more); no shading indicates minority government.
The 15th parliament saw a number of defections and counter-defections:
Deaths and resignations
The 15th parliament saw the following deaths and resignations: