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 Chandrika Kumaratunga, born on June 29 1945, was the fifth President of Sri
Lanka and also the first female
president. She was the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until the end of 2005.
She took up politics in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and in 1974 became an
Executive Committee Member of its Women's League. Following the Land
Reform in Sri Lanka in 1972- 1976, she was the Additional Principal Director of the
Land Reform Commission (LRC). In 1976 - 1977 she was Chairman of the
Janawasa Commission, which established collective farms. In 1976- 1979 she
acted as a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
After her husband, Vijaya Kumaratunga, was assassinated, she left the country for the UK,
working for UNU-WIDER (United Nations University-World Institute for
Development Economics Research), not returning until 1991. Kumaratunga was
elected as the Chief Minister of the Western Province of Sri Lanka in 1993 in a
land slide election victory.
Kumaratunga herself was elected Prime Minister of a
People's Alliance (PA) government on August 19, 1994 and President in the
presidential election held shortly thereafter in November. This ended 17 years of
UNP rule. She appointed her mother to succeed her as Prime Minister.
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