Parliament
The Parliament of Sri Lanka is the supreme legislative structure created by the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The Parliament of Sri Lanka is one of Sri Lanka’s key institutions. Constituted under the 1978 Constitution, the Parliament is vested with the legislative function.
The Parliament is the successor of a rich democratic tradition of Sri Lanka which goes back to the 1930s. The foundations of the legislative structures in Sri Lanka were laid with the establishment of the Executive and Legislative Councils established under Colebrook and Cameron Reforms of 1833. Initially the membership of these two institutions was limited to the British and the local wealthy gentry of Sri Lanka.
As a result of the enactment of the Donoughmore Constitution, the people of Sri Lanka won the right to elect their own representatives to the State Council of Ceylon, the main legislative structure of that time through the exercise of universal adult franchise in 1931.
The State Council of Ceylon, established under the Donoughmore Constitution was replaced by bicameral parliament in 1947, following the enactment of the Soulbury Constitution of Ceylon. Based on the Westminster model, the parliament consisted of the Upper House “the Senate” and the Lower House “House of Representatives”. While the Senate was represented by members of the House of Representatives (15) and members appointed by the Governor of Ceylon, the representative of the British Sovereign (15), the members of the House of Representatives were elected by the people of Sri Lanka (then known Ceylon).
The Parliament of Ceylon was replaced by the National State Assembly, the unicameral legislative organ following the enactment of the First Republic Constitution of Sri Lanka in 1972. The Senate was abolished while the House of Representative was replaced with the State Assembly.
The National State Assembly was replaced by the “Parliament of Sri Lanka” under the Second Republican Constitution of 1978.
The Parliament is a unicameral body with 225 members elected by the people of Sri Lanka. The election of the members of Parliament is known as the General election. 169 members of the Parliament are elected by proportional representation at a General election from 22 electoral districts, while the remaining 29 members are selected from the respective National lists. The number of National Lists seats allocated to the contending political parties is based on the proportion of votes secured nationally by the respective parties.
The term of Parliament is 6 years.
The Parliament as the main legislative organ of Sri Lanka is responsible for the enactment of legislation, including amending, repealing and replacing of the existing legislation.
The present Parliament House is located in the historic city of Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte. The location of the Parliament was based on the decision of the government to shift the capital of Sri Lanka to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, a suburb of Colombo. The Parliament stands on a small island in the picturesque Diyawanna Oya. The building was constructed by the world renowned Sri Lankan Architect, Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa and was declared opened by then President J.R. Jayawardena on 29th April 1982.
The Speaker of the Parliament
The Speaker of Parliament chairs the Parliament of Sri Lanka and is elected from the members of Parliament. Since 1978 they were:
Hon. Dr. Anandatissa de Alwis
Hon. M.A. Bakeer Marker
Hon. E.L.Senanayake
Hon. M.H. Mohamed
Hon. K.B. Ratnayake
Hon. Anura Bandaranaike
Hon. Joseph Michael Perera
Hon. W.J.M. Lokubandara
