13th Parliament of Sri Lanka

The 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2004 parliamentary election held on 2 April 2004. The parliament met for the first time on 22 April 2004 and was dissolved on 9 February 2010.

Election
The 13th parliamentary election was held on 2 April 2004. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), a newly formed opposition alliance, became the largest group in Parliament by winning 105 of the 225 seats. The incumbent United National Front (UNF) won 82 seats. The minority Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won 22 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining 16 seats.

Results


The new parliament was sworn in on 22 April 2004. W. J. M. Lokubandara, the opposition's candidate, was elected Speaker after three dramatic rounds of voting in Parliament. The parliament reconvened on 18 May 2004 to elect unopposed Gitanjana Gunawardena as Deputy Speaker and M. Satchithanandan as the Deputy Chairman of Committees.

Government
The UPFA was able to form a minority government with the support of the sole Eelam People's Democratic Party MP.

On 6 April 2004, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa, the leader of the UPFA, as the new Prime Minister. The rest of the government, comprising 30 ministers and 31 deputy ministers, was sworn in on 10 April 2004. President Kumaratunga retained control over the important ministries of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order, Highways, Education and Buddha Sasana.

Shortly afterwards, a number of defections and counter-defections from the opposition increased the size of the government to 129 MPs, most of whom were rewarded with ministerial posts. This allowed the UPFA form a stable government which lasted six years.

Following the expiration of the second term of President Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa won the 2005 presidential elections. Rajapaksa was succeeded as Prime Minister by Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

By January 2007, the government had grown to a size of 104 (52 ministers + 33 non-cabinet ministers + 19 deputy ministers), and by the end of the 13th parliament, would further increase to 109. There were only a handful of UPFA MPs without any ministerial position. The government was the largest government in Sri Lanka's history and proportionally one of the largest in the world, and was fittingly known as the "Jumbo Cabinet" due to its sheer size.

Changes in party/alliance affiliations
The 13th parliament saw a number of defections and counter-defections:


 * 18 May 2004 – One SLMC MP (Hussain Ahamed Bhaila) joins the UPFA government.
 * 9 August 2004 – 2 SLMC MPs (M. N. Abdul Majeed, Rishad Bathiudeen) join the UPFA government.
 * 3 September 2004 – 8 CWC MPs join the UPFA government, giving it a majority in parliament.
 * 16 June 2005 – All 39 JVP MPs leave the UPFA government.
 * 14 December 2005 – One CWC MP (Vadivel Suresh) joins UPFA government.
 * 25 January 2006 – 2 UNP MPs (Keheliya Rambukwella, Mahinda Samarasinghe) cross over to the UPFA.
 * 28 January 2007 – 18 UNP MPs and 6 SLMC MPs join the UPFA.
 * 30 January 2007 – 8 JHU MPs join the UPFA.
 * 12 December 2007 – 4 SLMC MPs leave the UPFA government.
 * 28 December 2008 – 12 NFF MPs, who had defected from the JVP earlier in May 2008, join the UPFA government.

Deaths and resignations
The 13th parliament saw numerous deaths and resignations:
 * 18 April 2004 – Kingsley Rasanayagam (TNA/BAT) resigned shortly after being elected, before being sworn in. Replaced by Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanethiran (TNA/BAT).
 * 23 April 2004 – Mary Lucida (UPFA/NAT), Janadasa Peiris (UPFA/NAT) and E. A. D. C. Weerasekera (UPFA/NAT) resigned. Their replacements Mervyn Silva (UPFA/NAT), Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (UPFA/NAT) and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (UPFA/NAT) were sworn in on 18 May 2004.
 * 9 May 2004 – Kataluwe Ratanasiya (JHU/COL) resigned. Replaced by Akmeemana Dayarathana (JHU/COL).
 * 19 May 2004 – W. P. S. Pushpakumara (UNF/NAT) resigned. Replaced by Basheer Segu Dawood (UNF/NAT).
 * 20 May 2004 – Ismail Mohammed Quddus (UNF/NAT) resigned. Replaced by S. Nijamudeen (UNF/NAT).
 * 24 May 2004 – Philipps Kumarasinghe Sri Liyanage (UPFA/NAT) resigned. Replaced by Mohamed Mussammil (UPFA/NAT).
 * 27 May 2004 – Mahipala Herath (UPFA/KEG) resigned to contest in the Sabaragamuwa provincial council elections. Replaced by H. R. Mithrapala (UPFA/KEG).
 * 28 May 2004 – Reginald Cooray (UPFA/KAL) resigned to contest in the Western provincial council elections. Replaced by Nirmala Kotalawala (UPFA/KAL).
 * 23 June 2004 – Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana (UNF/NAT) resigned. Replaced by M. Mohamed Musthaffa (UNF/NAT).
 * 8 October 2004 – Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala (JHU/GAM) resigned. Replaced by Alawwe Nandaloka (JHU/GAM).
 * 7 December 2004 – S. B. Dissanayake (UNF/NUW) lost his seat after being jailed by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court for contempt of court. Replaced by Renuka Herath (UNF/NUW).
 * 12 August 2005 – Lakshman Kadirgamar (UPFA/NAT) assassinated. Replaced by Dullas Alahapperuma (UPFA/NAT).
 * 19 November 2005 – Mahinda Rajapaksa (UPFA/HAM) resigned to take up presidency. Replaced by Nirupama Rajapaksa (UPFA/HAM).
 * 25 December 2005 – Joseph Pararajasingham (TNA/NAT) assassinated. Replaced by Chandra Nehru Chandrakanthan (TNA/NAT).
 * 19 April 2006 – Siripala Amarasingha (JVP/GAM) resigned. Replaced by Sarath Kumara Gunaratna (UPFA/GAM).
 * 10 November 2006 – Nadarajah Raviraj (TNA/JAF) assassinated. Replaced by Nallathamby Srikantha (TNA/JAF).
 * 31 January 2007 – Omalpe Sobhita (JHU/NAT) resigned. Replaced by Champika Ranawaka (JHU/NAT).
 * 13 September 2007 – Anwar Ismail (UPFA/NAT) died. Replaced by Basil Rajapaksa (UPFA/NAT).
 * 14 December 2007 – M. K. Eelaventhan (TNA/NAT) lost his seat due to non-attendance. Replaced by Raseen Mohammed Imam (TNA/NAT).
 * 1 January 2008 – T. Maheswaran (UNF/COL) assassinated. Replaced by Mohamed Rajabdeen (UNF/COL).
 * 8 January 2008 – D. M. Dassanayake (UPFA/PUT) assassinated. Replaced by Piyankara Jayaratne (UPFA/PUT).
 * 9 February 2008 – Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi (UPFA/GAM) killed. Replaced by Reggie Ranatunga (UPFA/GAM).
 * 6 March 2008 – K. Sivanesan (TNA/JAF) assassinated. Replaced by Solomon Cyril (TNA/JAF).
 * 16 March 2008 – Anura Bandaranaike (UPFA/GAM) died. Replaced by Sarana Gunawardena (UPFA/GAM).
 * 2 April 2008 – Hasen Ali (SLMC/NAT), Rauff Hakeem (SLMC/AMP) and Basheer Segu Dawood (UNF/NAT) resigned to contest the Eastern provincial council elections. Hakeem's replacement A. M. M. Naoshad (SLMC/AMP) was sworn in on 9 April 2008. Segu Dawood's replacement Rauff Hakeem (UNF/NAT) was sworn in on 10 July 2008. Ali replaced himself and was sworn in on 22 July 2008.
 * 6 April 2008 – Jeyaraj Fernandopulle (UPFA/GAM) assassinated. Replaced by Dulip Wijeysekara (UPFA/GAM).
 * 31 May 2008 – Reggie Ranatunga (UPFA/GAM) died. Replaced by Neil Rupasinghe (UPFA/GAM).
 * 30 June 2008 – H. M. Wasantha Samarasinghe (JVP/NAT) resigned to contest in the North Central provincial council elections. Replaced by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (UPFA/NAT).
 * 3 September 2008 – Anuruddha Polgampola (UPFA/KEG) resigned. Replaced by Lalith Dissanayake (UPFA/KEG).
 * 17 May 2009 – Alick Aluvihare (UNF/MTL) died. Replaced by Nandimithra Ekanayake (UNF/MTL).
 * 21 May 2009 – Kanagasabai Pathmanathan (TNA/AMP) died. Replaced by Thomas Thangathurai William (TNA/AMP).
 * 30 May 2009 – Amarasiri Dodangoda (UPFA/GAL) died. Replaced by Chandima Weerakkody (UPFA/GAL).
 * 25 July 2009 – Sarath Ranawaka (UNF/KAL) died. Replaced by Ananda Lakshman Wijemanna (UNF/KAL).
 * 1 January 2010 – Periyasamy Chandrasekaran (UCPF/NUW) died. Replaced by Santhanam Arulsamy (WLF/NUW).