Presidential campaign Following days of speculation in the media, Sirisena announced on 21 November 2014 that he would challenge incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the
2015 presidential election as the common opposition candidate. Sirisena claimed that everything in Sri Lanka was controlled by
one family and that the country was heading towards a dictatorship with rampant corruption,
nepotism and a breakdown of the rule of law. He has pledged to abolish the
executive presidency within 100 days of being elected, repeal the controversial eighteenth amendment, re-instate the seventeenth amendment and appoint
UNP leader
Ranil Wickremasinghe as
prime minister. His ministerial security and vehicles were also withdrawn. Sirisena released his manifesto, titled
A Compassionate Maithri Governance — A Stable Country, on 19 December 2014 at a rally at
Viharamahadevi Park. The main pledge in the manifesto was the replacement of the executive presidency with a Westminster style cabinet but the manifesto acknowledged that Sirisena would need the support of the parliament to amend the constitution. The manifesto also made a commitment to replace the
open list proportional representation system with a mixture of
first-past-the-post and PR for electing MPs. Independent commissions would be established to oversee the judiciary, police, elections department,
Auditor-General's Department and
Attorney-General's Department. The Commission on Bribery and Corruption would be strengthened and political diplomatic appointments annulled. Populist measures in the manifesto included a commitment to write-off 50% of farmers' loans, reduce fuel prices by removing taxes and a salary increase of Rs. 10,000 for public servants. Public spending on health would increase from 1.8% of GDP to 3% of GDP whilst that on education would increase from 1.7% of GDP to 6% of GDP. The manifesto also stated that the casino licences granted to
Kerry Packer's
Crown Resort and
John Keells Holdings's Water Front will be cancelled. Political victims during Rajapaksa's rule, including
Sarath Fonseka and
Shirani Bandaranayake, would be re-appointed. In a separate document Sirisena pledged that, whilst resisting any international investigation, he would establish an independent domestic inquiry into the alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Sirisena was declared the winner after receiving 52.42% of all votes cast compared to Rajapaksa's 47.58%. Sirisena was the winner in 12
electoral districts whilst Rajapaksa was victorious in the remaining 10. On the contrary Rajapakse won in 90 electorates while Sirisena managed to win only in 70 electorates. The result was generally seen as a shock. When Rajapaksa called the election in November 2014 he had looked certain to win. ;Transition According to
Mangala Samaraweera and
Rajitha Senaratne, senior figures in the Sirisena campaign, Rajapaksa attempted to stage a
coup in order to stay in power when it became clear he was going to lose the election. They alleged that Rajapaksa and his brother
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, summoned
Commander of the Army Daya Ratnayake,
Inspector General of Police N. K. Illangakoon and
Attorney General Yuwanjana Wanasundera to
Temple Trees at around 1:00a.m. on 9January 2015. Rajapaksa allegedly pressured the three officials to deploy troops, annul the election results and declare a
state of emergency but they refused. According to the
Colombo Telegraph Rajapaksa also wanted to
dissolve parliament. It was only then Rajapaksa decided to concede defeat and summoned Ranil Wickremesinghe to assure him of a smooth transition of power. A spokesman for Rajapaksa has denied the allegations as baseless. The army and police have also denied the allegations. The new government is to investigate the alleged coup attempt. Sirisena was sworn in as Sri Lanka's sixth executive president (and seventh overall) before Supreme Court judge
K. Sripavan in
Independence Square, Colombo at 6:20p.m. on 9January 2015. Immediately afterwards, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new prime minister before Sirisena. In his election manifesto, Sirisena had promised a 100-day reform program planning to
dissolve the parliament and holding new elections on 23 April 2015. Some reforms, such as the curtailing of presidential powers and re-introducing the two-term limit, were introduced by the passing of the
nineteenth amendment. In addition, Sirisena enacted a Right to Information bill. Other changes, notably electoral reforms, were not carried out. With electoral reforms stalled and the 100-day reform program falling behind schedule, the UNP started calling for parliamentary elections. Sirisena dissolved parliament on 26 June 2015 and called for early elections. However, when faced with criticism concerning the reforms, Sirisena publicly disavowed the 100-day reform program. Nominations took place between 6 July 2015 and 13 July 2015. The UPFA/SLFP MPs who remained loyal to former president Rajapaksa called for Rajapaksa to be made the UPFA's prime ministerial candidate for the election. This alarmed those members of the UPFA/SLPF who had supported Sirisena during the presidential election. They urged Sirisena to prevent Rajapaksa's return to politics but Sirisena remained silent on the matter. After the parliamentary election was called it was announced that Rajapaksa would contest but not as the prime ministerial candidate which would be decided after the election. Feeling "betrayed" by Sirisena, his supporters in the UPFA/SLFP allied themselves with the UNP to form the
United National Front for Good Governance. On 14 July 2015, at a special press conference, Sirisena announced he would remain impartial during the elections after granting the nomination to Rajapaksa, hinted that Rajapaksa could be defeated in the parliamentary election similar to the presidential election. The United National Front for Good Governance became the largest group in Parliament after securing 45.66% of votes and 106 seats whilst the UPFA won 42.38% of votes and 95 seats. Rajapaksa quickly conceded defeat in his attempt to become prime minister. The result left the UNFGG seven seats short of a majority in Parliament. However, on 20 August 2015 the central committee of the SLFP agreed to form a national government with the UNP for two years. 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. The elections saw minor violence and violations of election laws but were generally incident-free, peaceful, free and fair. Sirisena was praised for "shepherding an inclusive process" during the elections by the
United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon. The
European External Action Service spokesperson also stated that the election was "genuine, well administered and peaceful."
National government (2015–2018) 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. 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.
Constitutional crisis On the evening of 26 October 2018, Sirisena, in a sudden move, sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister after the United People's Freedom Alliance withdrew from the unity government. Immediately following the move, media institutions in the country were suppressed in what is now being termed a hostile takeover. Wickremesinghe refused to accept the dismissal, stating that it was illegal and unconstitutional. Sirisena promptly prorogued Parliament and appointed a new Cabinet of Ministers, in effect creating a parallel government to what was operational in the country at the time, a series of events referred to by the BBC as "somewhere in between House of Cards, Game of Thrones and Shakespeare's darkest Roman plays". This resulted in a
constitutional crisis, with analysts referring to Sirisena's actions as a coup. The crisis created significant fears as to the state of democratic institutions in the country, with former Ministers refusing to step down from their posts. A reported ten thousand people mobilised in a protest in Colombo, demanding that Sirisena reconvene Parliament. Following the Supreme court ruling, Rajapaksa backed down and Wickremesinghe was re-appointed prime minister.
Easter bombings On the morning of 21 April 2019,
Easter Sunday series of coordinated terrorist suicide bombings took place targeting three Christian churches and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital Colombo killing 253 and wounding over 500 people. President Sirisena who was in Singapore on a personal visit at the time ordered a
Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the bombings to identify the perpetrators. On his return to the island on 22 April, he declared a
state of emergency from midnight of 22 April by issuing an extraordinary gazette notification. The government announced a
national day of mourning the following day. The President and the government were heavily criticised for not heeding warnings from Indian intelligence services, but President Sirisena denied knowledge of warnings before his departure overseas on 15 April. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe later apologised for failing to stop the attacks issuing a statement on Twitter stating "We take collective responsibility and apologise to our fellow citizens for our failure to protect victims of these tragic events. We pledge to rebuild our churches, revive our economy, and take all measures to prevent terrorism, with the support of the international community." On 23 April, President Sirisena announced his plans to change the heads of the
defence forces, and on 25 April
Hemasiri Fernando, secretary to the Ministry of Defence tendered his resignation to the President, after it was announced that President Sirisena has requested the Defence Secretary and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) resign. With no response to his request to resign, President Sirisena sent the IGP
Pujith Jayasundara on compulsory leave and appointed an acting Inspector General of Police .
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka stated in parliament on 8 May that President Sirisena had been informed 15 times at the
National Security Council about warnings of a terrorist attack, yet no instructions were given. The President has intern turned down calls by the prime minister and the UNP parliamentary group to appoint Fonseka as the Minister of Law and Order following the bombing. He has refused to appoint Fonseka to a Ministerial post since the
2018 constitutional crisis citing that Fonseka's name had come up in the police investigations in an
alleged presidential assassination attempt. Sirisena was highly critical of the Parliamentary
Select Committee (PSC) probe into the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks and incidents in its aftermath appointed by the
Speaker of the Parliament of the PSC for summering intelligence and police officers. He had ordered no public officer to appear for summons issued by the PSC. Following Chief of National Intelligence
Sisira Mendis' statement at the PSC to the effect that President Sirisena knew about the warnings of an impending attack, Sirisena sacked Mendis within hours. ==Post-presidency (2019–present)==