Long-form name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Type: republic

Capital: Colombo

Administrative divisions: 24 districts; Amparai, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Mullativu, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Trincomalee, Vavuniya

Independence: 4 February 1948 (from UK; formerly Ceylon)

Constitution: 31 August 1978

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

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

Branches: executive--president (chief of state and head of government) elected for a six-year term; legislative--unicameral 168-member Parliament; judicial--Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, High Court

Leaders: @m5Chief of State President Ranasinghe PREMADASA (since 2 January 1989); @m5Head of Government Prime Minister D. B. WIJETUNGE (since March 1989)

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Elections: national election ordinarily held every six years; must be held more frequently if government loses confidence vote; in August 1982 the Constitution was amended to permit the president to call an early presidential election; last presidential election held December 1988 and parliamentary elections on 15 February 1989

Political parties and leaders: United National Party (UNP), Ranasinghe Premadasa; Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike; Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLNP), Chandrika Kumaranatunga; Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP; Trotskyite), C. R. de Silva; Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), V. Nanayakkara; Tamil United Liberation Front, A. Amirthalingam; Communist Party/Moscow, K. P. Silva; Communist Party/Beijing, N. Shanmugathasan; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front), M. B. Ratnayaka; Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; People's Liberation Front), Rohana Wijeweera; All-Ceylon Tamil Congress, Kumar Ponnambalam

Voting strength: (19 December 1988 presidential election) Ranasinghe PREMADASA NA%, NA%; (15 February 1989 parliamentary election, total seats 225) UNP 125 seats, SLFP 67 seats, Tamil Independents 14 seats, Tamil United Liberation Front Alliance 10 seats, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 4 seats, United Socialist Alliance 3 seats, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna 3 seats

Other political or pressure groups: Tamil separatist groups, Buddhist clergy, Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; Sinhalese revolutionary groups; labor unions

Member of: ADB, ANRPC, CCC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, NAM, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador W. Susanta De ALWIS; Chancery at 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 483-4025 through 4028; there is a Sri Lankan Consulate in New York; US--Ambassador James W. SPAIN; Embassy at 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo); telephone �94� (1) 548007

Flag: yellow with two panels; the 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 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sri Lanka Government 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sri Lanka Government 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.