Capital: Colombo
Administrative divisions: 8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western

Independence: 4 February 1948 (from UK)
National holiday: Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948)

Constitution: adopted 16 August 1978

Legal system: a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government: President Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGA (since 7 May 1993); election last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held NA December 1994); results - Ranasinghe PREMADASA (UNP) 50%, Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE (SLFP) 45%, other 5%; note - following the assassination of President PREMADASA on 1 May 1993, Prime Minister WIJETUNGA became acting president; on 7 May 1993, he was confirmed by a vote of Parliament to finish out the term of the assassinated president
cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister

Legislative branch: unicameral
Parliament: elections last held 15 February 1989 (next to be held by NA February 1995); results - UNP 51%, SLFP 32%, SLMC 4%, TULF 3%, USA 3%, EROS 3%, MEP 1%, other 3%; seats - (225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, other 33

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: United National Party (UNP), Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGA; Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo BANDARANAIKE; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), M. H. M. ASHRAFF; All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), C. G. Kumar PONNAMBALAM; People's United Front (MEP, or Mahajana Eksath Peramuna), Dinesh GUNAWARDENE; Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), M. SIVASITHAMBARAM; New Socialist Party (NSSP, or Nava Sama Samaja Party), Vasudeva NANAYAKKARA; Lanka Socialist Party/Trotskyite (LSSP, or Lanka Sama Samaja Party), Colin R. DE SILVA; Sri Lanka People's Party (SLMP, or Sri Lanka Mahajana Party), Ossie ABEYGUNASEKERA; Communist Party, K. P. SILVA; Communist Party/Beijing (CP/B), N. SHANMUGATHASAN; Democratic United National Front (DUNF), G. M. PREMACHANDRA; Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), Douglas DEVANANDA; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), leader NA; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRL), Suresh PREMACHANDRAN; Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS), Shankar RAJI; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Dharmalingam SIDARTHAN; Liberal Party (LP), Chanaka AMARATUNGA; Ceylon Workers Congress (CLDC), S. THONDAMAN; several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either parliament or provincial councils
note: the United Socialist Alliance (USA), which was formed in 1987 and included the NSSP, LSSP, SLMP, CP/M, and CP/B, was defunct as of 1993, following the formation of the People's Alliance Party (PEP)
Other political or pressure groups: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other smaller Tamil separatist groups; other radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups; Buddhist clergy; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; labor unions
Member of: AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Ananda W.P. GURUGE
chancery: 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: (202) 483-4025 through 4028
FAX: (202) 232-7181
consulate(s): New York
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Teresita C. SCHAFFER
embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3
mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo
telephone: [94] (1) 44-80-07
FAX: [94] (1) 57-42-64

Flag: yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag and extends between the two panels

NOTE: The information regarding Sri Lanka on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sri Lanka Government 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka Government 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.