The
United National Party, in the fullest sense
of the expression, is a united and national
organization. This is because the United
National Party has been constituted to enable
comprehensive representation of all racial,
social and other groups.
The
records of the early days of the party
also bear witness to many others who gave
their unstinting support and co-operation
in those early days. Following were the
founder office bearers: Vice Presidents
S W R D Bandaranaike, T B Jayah, Arunachalam
Mahadeva, S Natesan, J L Kotalawela and
George Ede Silva; Joint Treasurers AR
A Razik and J R Jayewardene; and the Secretary,
H W Amarasuriya.
At
the Founding of the Party we had just
205 members. Fifty years later, today
,the membership has swelled to 1.4 million.
The
United National Party was responsible
for the Administration of the country
for 31 years of its 50 year history. During
the remaining nineteen years, the United
National Party, while being in the Opposition,
has addressed itself to the task of maintaining
the momentum of progress along the path
it initiated.
The
United National Party that has recorded
such innumerable achievements and triumphs
in the field of politics, brought into
being an outstanding line of national
leaders as well.
D.S
Senanayake
The Hon D S Senanayake was the party's First
Leader.
The United National Party contested the
General Election in 1947, under his Leadership.
The Party achieved victory gaining a total
of 751,431 votes. This represented 39.8
percent of the total votes polled. At this
election, 42 Members of Parliament were
returned from the UNP. Hon D S Senanayake
who founded the United National Party and
ushered in not only independence but Democracy
itself to Sri lanka, passed away on the
22nd of March 1952.
Dudley
Senanayake
With the Hon D S Senanayake's death, the
mantle of leadership of the United National
Party fell on Dudley Senanayake. Dudley
Senanayake who became both leader and Prime
Minister, Dissolved Parliament in1952 and
held fresh elections.
Sir
John Kotalawela
Sir John Kotalawela was the third to assume
the leadership of the United National Party.
During this period, in 1956 the United National
Party faced a General Election and suffered
a crushing defeat.
Re-building
the Party
The task of re-building and re-organizing
the party fell to the lot of Hon J R Jayewarden.
J R Jayewardene, with tremendous courage,
faced the challenges of re-organizing the
Party with great vigour. He Breathed new
life to the United National Party. The Clearly
perceptible result of his great effort at
re-building the party was the impressive
victory of the United National Party at
the Colombo Municipal Council Elections
on the 19th of December 1956 - just seven
months after the Party's humiliating defeat
in 1956.
Dudley
Senanayake returns
In 1958, Mr Dudley Senanayake was invited
to lead the party once again. At the polls
in March 1960, under his leadership, the
United National Party polled 908,996 votes
Fifty UNP members were returned.
J
R Jayewardene
The Leader of the Party, Hon Dudley Senanayake
passed away in April 1973. After his demise,
Hon J R Jayewardene took the reins of the
Party as its Fourth Leader.
Ranasinghe
Premadasa
Ranasinghe Premadasa was chosen as the United
National Party candidate for the Presidential
Elections in 1988. In the same year, he
won the Presidential Elections, On the 2nd
of January 1989, Mr J R Jayewardene retired
as President in terms of the Constitution.On
his retirement Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa was
sworn in as the Second Executive President
of Sri lanka. Mr
Ranasinghe Premadasa polled 2,569,000 votes
at this Presidential Election.
D
B Wijietunge
The Fifth Leader of the United National
Party, Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated
on the 01 of May 1993. Mr D B Wijetunge
succeeded him as the sixth Leader of the
United National Party. Leader of the house
Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe became prime minister.
At the General elections held in August
1994, the United National Party under the
Leadership of Mr D B Wijetunge Suffered
defect. At
the Presidential Elections held in November
1994, The United National Party was defeated
once again.
In
this election the United National Party's
Presidential Candidate Mr Gamini Dissanayake,
fell victim to a bomb-attack. Shortly
before Election Day. Mrs Srima Dissanaayake
was selected as the substitute Presidential
Candidate by the United National Party.
As an inevitable outcome of the turbulent
conditions that existed in the country
and also within the Party at this time,
the United Natioanl Party polled only
2,700,150 votes at this Presidential Election.
Ranil
Wickremesinghe - The New Leader
The
Present Leader of the United National Party,
Mr. Ranil wickremesinghe is its seventh
leader. He was elected Leader of the Party
in November 1994. Mr
Ranil Wickremesinghe is the first leader
of the United National Party born after
Independence. He
commenced re-building the party, which had
been defected at three consecutive elections,
within his first week as Party Leader.
When
he assumed leadership, the United National
Party was in the doldrums. Apart from the
electoral losses, it had also lost many
of its leaders. Finances and party morale
were at an all time low. He
re-fashioned the party policies to reflect
aspirations of a new society- "A New
Path for a New Generation." He has
commenced the process of restructuring the
party to take Sri lanka into the 21st century. |
