Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike ( born April 17, 1916 in Balangoda, † October 10, 2000 in Colombo) was a Sinhalese politician. She was the first female head of government in the world.

Bandaranaike had held the office of Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times, in the years 1960-1965, 1970-1977 and 1994-2000, and was the world's first woman ever elected to such office. She was chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Her husband was the former Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike. Her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga was 1994-2005 President of the country.

Political career

After the murder of her husband by a politically radical Buddhist monk in September 1959, there was initially a period of political instability. Under interim Premier Dahanayake the government coalition fell apart, so that 1960 elections were called for March. Founded by her husband and 1956 election victory led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike asked him SLFP to appearances on the campaign trail. Although this evoked a positive response, the SLFP was only the second largest party behind the UNP ( United National Party ), which formed a minority government under Senanayake. However, since these remained without support in parliament, already re- election had to be called out for July.

For these elections on 20 July 1960, the SLFP went with Sirimavo Bandaranaike emerged as the leading candidate as the clear winner and this took so as the world's first woman prime minister. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, which should maintain the chair of her party to her death in 2000, led her husband's socialist policies continued and nationalized enterprises in key economic sectors such as banking and insurance. Due to the unstable economic and political situation of the country she called in the same year state of emergency. As a result of its decision to abolish English as an official language, and generally be replaced by Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese majority population, there was a campaign of civil disobedience by members of the Tamil minority. Many Tamils ​​regarded the language laws as discriminatory and as an attempt to exclude them from access to employment in the civil service and the courts and offices. This " Sinhala chauvinism " was one of the causes for the subsequent merger of several Tamil parties to the Tamil United Liberation Front ( TULF ), which called for the creation of a separate Tamil state (Tamil Eelam ) in the north and east of the island.

Further problems arose Bandaranaike's government when it nationalized foreign companies. Above all, the United States and Britain reacted sharply and embargoed foreign aid to the then Ceylon called country. As a result, she led the country's politics, although closer to China and the Soviet Union which, however Ceylon remained a non-aligned state.

In 1963, she was able to fend off a military coup in 1964 but lost a vote of confidence and the subsequent election. Already at the next election in 1970, she won by a large margin back the majority and was sworn in as Prime Minister again.

During her second term, a new constitution was adopted, with the country's name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka has been changed among others. The connections to the former colonial power Britain were dissolved almost completely. Even 16 months after the election their government had been overthrown by an armed uprising almost left-wing groups. The small, equipped mainly for ceremonial purposes Army of the land was not able to calm the situation. Bandaranaike asked the governments of friendly non-aligned countries to help. India and Pakistan sent troops together to Colombo, who managed to quell the rebellion.

The 1973 oil crisis hit hard the economy of Sri Lanka. Western aid was not expected because of the ongoing embargo and the economic policies of the government showed little effect. Bandaranaike itself proved to criticism of the increasingly intolerant and finally caused even the closure of independent media, which were among their most vocal critics. Earlier she had nationalized the largest newspaper in the country ( " Lake House "), which henceforth served as a mouthpiece for the government.

1976 Bandaranaike was elected Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement States. While it was largely internationally recognized and respected, but she lost in her home increasingly to support in the population; especially after she was confronted with the accusation of corruption and the country's economy slipped into an ever deeper crisis. The elections in 1977 Sirimavo Bandaranaike lost by a wide margin. 1980, she was denied the right to exercise a public office, abuse of office for seven years.

During the following 14 years she remained in the opposition and resisted, even though their party was unable to win election, repeated attempts from, to oust them from the head of the party, including that of their own children. Your daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga finally succeeded in 1994, to surpass her mother when she was elected President of Sri Lanka. At the same time Sirimavo Bandaranaike became her third term as Prime Minister. They remained in this position until her death in 2000.