President of Sri Lanka

The **president of Sri Lanka** is the elected head of state and the chief executive. The president is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene.

## Presidents

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|colspan="2" width=2%|No.|width=75|Portrait|width=27%|Name|colspan="2" width=20%|Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office|width=27%|Other ministerial offices held while president|width=10%|Political party|colspan="2" width=10%|Government|||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**1**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**William Gopallawa** <span style="font-size:125%;">විලියම් ගොපල්ලව</span> வில்லியம் கோபள்ளவா|1972|1978|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#DDDDDD rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|—|||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**2**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Junius Richard Jayewardene** <span style="font-size:125%;">ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන</span> ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா|1978|1989|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|1982|||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**3**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Ranasinghe Premadasa** <span style="font-size:125%;">රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස</span> ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா|1989|1993†|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|1988|||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="5" style="background-color:"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**4**|rowspan="5"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**Dingiri Banda Wijetunga** <span style="font-size:125%;">ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග</span> டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க|_1993_|_1993_|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" bgcolor="#D0F0C0"||rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D0F0C0"||rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D0F0C0"||rowspan="5"||
|1993|1994|||||||||||||||||||
|colspan="2" align="center"|1993|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ddeeff"||rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ddeeff"||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**5**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Chandrika Kumaratunga** <span style="font-size:125%;">චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග</span> சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்கே குமாரதுங்கா|1994|2005|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|1994, 1999|bgcolor=#D0F0C0||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**6**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Mahinda Rajapaksa** <span style="font-size:125%;">මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ</span> மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ|2005|2015|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|2005, 2010|||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**7**|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Maithripala Sirisena** <span style="font-size:125%;">මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන</span> மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன|2015|2019|rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#ddeeff rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="3"||bgcolor=#DDEEFF||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|2015|bgcolor=#D0F0C0 rowspan="2"||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="5" style="background-color:"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**8**|rowspan="5"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**Gotabaya Rajapaksa** <span style="font-size:125%;">ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ</span> கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ|2019|2022|rowspan="4"||bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="4"||bgcolor=#FFCCCC||bgcolor=#D0F0C0||rowspan="5"||
|colspan="2" rowspan="2" align="center"|2019|bgcolor=#FFCCCC||bgcolor=#FFCCCC rowspan="3"||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="5" style="background-color:"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**9**|rowspan="5"||rowspan="5" align="center"|**Ranil Wickremesinghe** <span style="font-size:125%;">රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ</span> ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க|_2022_|_2022_|rowspan="4"||rowspan="4" bgcolor="#D0F0C0"||rowspan="4" bgcolor="#D0F0C0"||rowspan="4" bgcolor="#FFCCCC"||rowspan="5"||
|2022|2024|||||||||||||||||||
|colspan="2" align="center"|2022|||||||||||||||||||
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|rowspan="4" style="background-color:"||rowspan="4"|**10**|rowspan="4" align="center"||rowspan="4" align="center"|**Anura Kumara Dissanayake** අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක அநுர குமார|2024|Incumbent|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3" bgcolor="#E0B5C4"||rowspan="3" bgcolor="#E0B5C4"||rowspan="3" bgcolor="#FFCCCC"||rowspan="4"||
|colspan="2" align="center"|2024|||||||||||||||||||
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## Related pages

- List of prime ministers of Sri Lanka

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: President
- **body**: Sri Lanka
- **native name**:

- **insignia**: Emblem_of_Sri_Lanka.svg
- **insigniasize**: 100px
- **insigniacaption**: Emblem of Sri Lanka
- **incumbent**: Anura Kumara Dissanayake
- **incumbentsince**: 23 September 2024
- **member of**: Cabinet of Sri Lanka, Cabinet
National Security Council (Sri Lanka), National Security Council
- **residence**: President's House, Colombo, President's House
- **nominator**: Citizens of Sri Lanka
- **appointer**: Direct election
- **appointer qualified**: #Eligibility, See eligibility
- **termlength**: Five years, renewable once
- **constituting instrument**: Constitution of Sri Lanka
- **precursor**: Dominion of Ceylon#Monarchs, Monarch of Ceylon
- **inaugural**: William Gopallawa
under the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972, 1972 Constitution
- **first**: William Gopallawa
- **succession**: Sri Lankan presidential line of succession
- **deputy**: Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister
- **website**:

- **flag**: Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
- **flagsize**: 150
- **flagcaption**: Flag of Sri Lanka
- **image**: Anura Kumara Dissanayake in 2025.jpg