Back সাজিথ প্রেমাদাসা Bengali/Bangla Sajith Premadasa German Sajith Premadasa Spanish Sajith Premadasa French サジット・プレマダーサ Japanese 사지트 프레마다사 Korean සජිත් ප්රේමදාස Singhalese Sajith Premadasa SIMPLE சஜித் பிரேமதாச Tamil 萨吉特·普雷马达萨 Chinese
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Sajith Premadasa (Sinhala: සජිත් ප්රේමදාස, Tamil: சஜித் பிரேமதாச; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District.[1] He is the current leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.[2]
Premadasa is the son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, president of Sri Lanka from 1989 to 1993. He was educated at S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Royal College, Colombo and Mill Hill School before entering the London School of Economics. He was doing his postgraduate studies at the University of Maryland when his father was assassinated in 1993.
Following his father's assassination, he returned to Sri Lanka and entered politics. He was elected to parliament in 2000, representing the Hambantota District as a member the United National Party, his father's party, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Health in 2001, serving until 2004. He was appointed deputy leader of the UNP in 2011 and was appointed Minister of Housing and Samurdhi in President Maithripala Sirisena's cabinet in 2015.
Premadasa contested the 2019 presidential election as the candidate of New Democratic Front, placing second. In December 2019, he was appointed as Leader of the Opposition and a member of the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka.[3] In 2020, Premadasa split from the UNP to lead his own political party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, and ran in the 2020 parliamentary elections as the leader and prime ministerial candidate of the new alliance.[4][5][6] In 2024, Premadasa ran for president a second time, once again finishing in second place.[7][8]
- ^ "Sajith Premadasa Appointed As Sri Lanka Opposition Leader". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ Bandara, Kelum Bandara (12 February 2020). "Premadasa-faction forms Samagi Jana Balawegaya". dailymirror.lk. Wijeya Newspapers. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "New Cabinet Ministers sworn in". adaderana.lk. Ada Derana. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "UNP names Sajith as PM candidate, Sajith to lead new alliance". 30 January 2020. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- ^ "Parliamentary General Election 2020 Results - Adaderana". Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- ^ "Sajith invites UNP MPs to join SJB". www.dailymirror.lk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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