The 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka was the meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka with its membership determined by the results of the 2015 parliamentary election, held on 17 August 2015. The parliament met for the first time on 1 September 2015 and was dissolved on 3 March 2020.
Election
The 15th parliamentary election was held on 17 August 2015. The incumbent United National Party (UNP)-led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) won 106 seats, an increase of 46 since the 2010 election, but failed to secure a majority in Parliament. The main opposition alliance, the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 95 seats, a decline of 49. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing Sri Lankan Tamils, won 16 seats, an increase of two from 2010. The remaining eight seats were won by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (6), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (1) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (1).
Results
The new parliament was sworn in on 1 September 2015. Karu Jayasuriya was elected Speaker, Thilanga Sumathipala as the Deputy Speaker and Selvam Adaikalanathan as the Deputy Chairman of Committees. Lakshman Kiriella was appointed Leader of the House and Gayantha Karunathilaka was appointed Chief Government Whip.
The Speaker recognised TNA leader R. Sampanthan as Leader of the Opposition on 3 September 2015. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka was nominated to be Chief Opposition Whip.
The Parliament became a Constitutional Assembly on 9 March 2016 in order to formulate a new constitution for Sri Lanka.
Thilanga Sumathipala resigned as Deputy Speaker on 25 May 2018. His replacement Ananda Kumarasiri was elected on 5 June 2018.
Following the withdrawal of the UPFA from the national government, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mahinda Amaraweera were recognised as Leader of the Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip respectively on 18 December 2018.
Government
On 20 August 2015, the central committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent party of the UPFA, agreed to form a national government with the UNP for two years. Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNP, 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. On 3 September, Parliament voted by 143 votes (101 UNFGG, 40 UPFA, 1 EPDP, 1 SLMC) to 16 votes (11 UPFA, 5 JVP), with 63 absent (43 UPFA, 16 TNA, 3 UNFGG, 1 JVP), to approve the formation of a national government.
Three UNFGG cabinet ministers were sworn in on 24 August 2015. 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. A further cabinet minister from the UPFA was sworn in on 23 October 2015. A further cabinet minister from the UNFGG was sworn in on 25 February 2016. A UPFA state minister and two deputy ministers (one UNFGG, one UPFA) were sworn in on 6 April 2016.
Constitutional crisis
The UPFA withdrew from the national government on 26 October 2018. President Maithripala Sirisena, leader of the UPFA, dismissed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The following day Sirisena prorogued Parliament. A constitutional crisis ensued as the UNP refused to accept the changes, describing them as unconstitutional, illegal and a coup. Over the next few days, Sirisena appointed a new cabinet consisting of MPs from the UPFA, EPDP and defections from the UNP. Despite the defections, the UPFA could not muster the support of a majority of MPs and with the TNA, which held the balance of power in Parliament, announcing that it would support a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Sirisena dissolved parliament on 9 November 2018 and called for fresh elections on 5 January 2019. The UNP, TNA, JVP and several others challenged the dissolution in the Supreme Court which on 13 November 2018 issued a stay on the dissolution until 7 December 2018.