D. M. Jayaratne
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage " M. D. " Jayaratne ( Sinhala: දිසානායක මුදියන්සේලාගේ ජයරත්න; Tamil: டிசைனாக முடியன்செலகே ஜெயரத்னே ) (* June 4, 1931 ) is a Sri Lankan politician and prime minister since 2010.
Biography
After attending the School of Doluwa Maha Vidyalaya in Kandy Gampola in the mid-1950s he studied art at the University of Peradeniya. After working as a teacher at the Maha Vidyalaya Doluwa he was from 1960 to 1962 postmaster of Doluwa.
His political career began with the election of Members of Parliament in 1970 as the candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP ) and represented the constituency until 1977, first Gampala. In the elections of 1989 he was again elected a member of Parliament and represented now after his re- election in 1994 to 2001 constituency Kandy and led with 54 290 votes on the list of the SLFP in the district of Kandy.
In August 1994 he was appointed by Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga as minister of lands, agriculture and forestry for the first time in a government and held this office under Kumaratunga Bandaranaike Sirimavo successor to August 2000. In the subsequent Cabinet of Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake he was between August 2000 and December 2001 Minister for Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives. Jayaratne was next time, also general secretary of the Freedom Alliance of the United nation (United People's Freedom Alliance ( UPFA ) '), which also belongs to the SLFP.
Between 2001 and 2004 he was a member of the Parliament as a member of the National List of the SLFP and joined after their election victory in April 2004 as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Rural Development in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. He remained in this function also in the second government Wickremanayake held until 2007. He was most recently between 2007 and April 2010 Minister of Plantation Industry in the cabinet Wickremanayake.
On 8 November 2010, the UPFA won the elections to the Parliament clearly with 60.3 percent of the vote and 144 of the 225 seats, while the United National Front 29.3 percent and 60 seats, the Democratic National Alliance 5.5 percent and 7 mandates and the Tamil National Alliance 2.9 percent of the vote and 14 seats in parliament received. The turnout was 61.3 percent.
Then, Jayaratne was appointed on 21 April 2010 for the new prime minister and put on the same day his oath of office. On 23 April 2010 he presented his cabinet, Gamini Lakshman Peiris in the Foreign Minister and Interior Minister John Seneviratne was. President Mahinda Rajapaksa retained the office as defense and finance minister in further.