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Ruwan Wijewardene

Ruwan Wijewardene
Deputy Leader of the United National Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 September 2020
Preceded bySajith Premadasa
Member of Parliament
for Gampaha District
In office
22 April 2010 – 3 March 2020
Majority157,932 Preferential Votes
State Minister of Defence
In office
12 January 2015 – 17 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Non-cabinet Minister of Mass Media [1]
In office
22 February 2019 – 17 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Personal details
Born (1975-08-04) 4 August 1975 (age 49)
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partyUnited National Party
Parent(s)Ranjith Wijewardene
Ranjani Wijewardene
(née Senanayake)
Residence(s)50/9, Siripa Road,
Colombo 05. Sri Lanka.
OccupationPolitician

Ruwan Wijewardene (Sinhala: රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) is a Sri Lankan politician and currently the Senior advisor to president Ranil Wickremesinghe on Climate change. He was the former State Minister of Defence and former Mass Media non-cabinet Minister.[2] He was a former Member of Parliament for Gampaha District.[3] Also he is the Deputy Leader of the United National Party and chief organiser for Kelaniya Electorate.[4][5]

Prior to entering parliament in 2010, he was a member of the Western Provincial Council.[6] He was appointed as the acting minister of defence few times after 2019.[7][8]

Early life

Born to a political dynasty, he is the youngest son of Ranjani Senanayake and Ranjith Wijewardene (Chairman of Wijeya Newspapers). His maternal great-grandfather, Rt Hon D.S Senanayake, was the first prime minister of Ceylon and his grand uncle, Dudley Senanayake, was the second prime minister of Ceylon and went on to become prime minister two more times during the 1950s and 1960s. His paternal grandfather, D. R. Wijewardena, was a press baron who was a leader in the Sri Lankan independence movement. A successful entrepreneur, he established Lake House newspapers and played a major role in the independence movement. Ruwan Wijewardene is a nephew of the first executive president J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka and the cousin of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current President of Sri Lanka.[9][10]

Education

Wijewardene completed his primary and secondary education at St. Thomas' Preparatory School. He then pursued further studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, where he earned a BA in Political science.

Political career

Wijewardene contested the Western Provincial elections in 2009 and was a member of the Western Provincial Council until 2010. He stood for parliamentary elections 2010 and secured the highest number of preference votes from Gampaha District. He lost his seat in parliament in 2020 general elections. He was elected as deputy leader of the UNP on 14 September 2020 and he is tipped to be the next Leader of the United National Party.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Non-Cabinet Minister of Media
  2. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Mass Media non-cabinet Minister.
  3. ^ Parliamentary Elections (2010) Electoral District No:- 02 - Gampaha.
  4. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene elected Deputy Leader of UNP. Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 14 September 2020.
  5. ^ Ruwan appointed to Kelaniya electorate. Sri Lanka Mirror, Retrieved on 21 April 2020.
  6. ^ New Cabinet ministers sworn in.
  7. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene appointed as Acting Defence Minister
  8. ^ Ruwan appointed as Acting Defence Minister as President leaves for Britain
  9. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene wants to revive UNP.
  10. ^ “I’m more of a liberal democrat like Dudley”.
  11. ^ රනිල්ගෙන් පස්‌සේ . Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 5 May 2010.
  12. ^ රුවන් සුදුසුකම් සපුරන තුරු නායකත්වයෙන් ඉවත් වෙන්නේ නෑ Dinamina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  13. ^ රුවන් විජයවර්ධන එජාප නායකත්වයට තව පියවරක් ලං වෙයි.. නියෝජ්‍ය මහ ලේකම් ධුරයට පත් කෙරේ
  14. ^ එජාප නායකත්වය රුවන් විජේවර්ධනට
  15. ^ එජාපයේ සියලූ තනතුරු වෙනස්වෙයි, නව නායක රුවන් Irida Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 16 August 2020.
  16. ^ Ranil's focus on giving UNP leadership to Ruwan?. Sri Lanka Mirror, Retrieved on 8 August 2020.
  17. ^ I am willing to lead UNP if party members want me to: Ruwan. The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 11 August 2020.
  18. ^ එජාප නායක වෙන්න මං සූදානම්. Lanka C News (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 19 August 2020.
  19. ^ Ruwan willing to accept party leadership. The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 27 August 2020.
  20. ^ Ruwan Wijewardene elected Deputy Leader of UNP. Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 14 September 2020.
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