Dr. Harini Amarasuriya took the oath as Sri Lanka’s 16th Prime Minister on September 24, 2024, after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake named her to the post. No academic had held the office before her.
She is only the third woman to be prime minister, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The last woman in the job left it 24 years ago.
Amarasuriya sits in parliament for the National People’s Power (NPP). Before politics she was a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka, and she has been a National List Member of Parliament for the NPP since 2020. She is also a rights activist. By the account of Daily FT, she belongs to the NPP’s centre-left faction and calls herself a Liberal. The paper called her appointment a shift in the country’s political culture and a step toward inclusivity and gender parity.
A three-member Cabinet
Dissanayake swore in only three Cabinet members, himself included. Amarasuriya’s portfolio is broad. She takes Health, Education, Justice, Labour, Local Government, Trade and Industries, along with Women, Child and Youth Affairs and Sports.
MP Vijitha Herath became Foreign Minister and also took Public Security, plus Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation. His remit extends to housing, water supply, mass media and religious and cultural affairs as well.
The President kept Defence and Finance for himself. Tourism, Energy, Agriculture and Fisheries stay with him too, as do land, livestock and irrigation.
Several figures attended the ceremony, among them MP Lakshman Nipunaarachchi, former MPs Sunil Handunnetti and Bimal Ratnayake, Presidential Secretary Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake and Defence Secretary H.S. Sampath Thuyacontha.
