Ranil Wickremesinghe who contested from the Colombo District in the General Election which drew to a close on Tuesday (17) consolidated his victory polling 500,506 votes. It is the highest number of votes polled by a candidate in Sri Lanka’s elections history.

Wickremesinghe was first appointed as the Prime Minister from 1993 – 1994 after the assassination of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

He was also elected as the Prime Minister from 2001 – 2004 when the United National Front Government won the parliamentary elections in 2001.

Wickremesinghe was appointed as Prime Minister for the third time by President Sirisena after winning the 2015 Presidential Election.

A lawyer by profession, he was elected to Parliament in 1977 at the age of 28 having worked in the Youth League of the UNP since his university days. He held a number of portfolios in the J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa Governments. He was one time the Minister of Education.

Wickremesinghe was educated at Royal College and entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Ceylon, Colombo campus (now University of Colombo). After graduation he completed the law exams at the Sri Lanka Law College and took oaths as an advocate in 1972.

Ranil Shriyan Wickremasinghe is the second son of Esmond and Nalini Wickremasinghe.

In 1994, he married Dr Maitree Wickremesinghe, a Senior Lecturer of the Department of English at the University of Kelaniya.

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