Maithripala Sirisena

He is married to Jayanthi Pushpa Kumar and the couple has three children—two daughters and one son.

The LTTE made many attempts on his life including a suicide-bombing attack in 2007 and a major assassination attempt in 2008 from which he had a miraculous escape. But nothing could dampen his spirit to serve the country and he actively continues to work for the country’s progress.

He was born on 3 September 1951 to a middle-class farming family, as the son of a World War II veteran, Albert Sirisena.

He received his primary education from the Lakshauyana School and later went to Topawawa Maha Vidyalaya, both in Polonnaruwa.

He joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's (SLFP) youth league in 1967 and was jailed during the 1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Insurrection.

He studied at Royal College, Polonnaruwa before moving to the Sri Lanka School of Agriculture, Kundasale, where he studied for three years, getting his Diploma in Agriculture in 1973. He then went to Russia where he studied Political Science at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute and earned a Diploma in 1980.

Over the years he rose up the ranks in SLFP eventually becoming the president of the All Island SLFP Youth Organization in 1983.

He contested the parliamentary election in 1989 as one of SLFP’s candidates in Polonnaruwa District and became a member of the parlieament. Five years later he was re-elected at the 1994 parliamentary election, this time as a People's Alliance (PA) candidate.

In 1994, he was made the Deputy Minister for Irrigation in the new PA government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The president promoted him to the Cabinet in 1997 and made him the Minister of Mahaweli Development.

He was elected the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 2000 and the next year he was appointed as the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, a post he held till 2014, making him the longest serving secretary in the history of Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

He signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with Mr. Tilvin Silva, the secretary of JVP, which led to the birth of United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in 2004.

In 2007, he served as the Cabinet Minister for Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Development. During his tenure he introduced the agricultural cultivation drive of the ministry, “API WAWAMU – RATA NAGAMU” program and the Moragahakanda – Kalu Ganga project under the Mahaweli Master Plan.

He received World Health Organization ‘World No Tobacco Day Award 2013’ for the steps he took to stop tobacco smoking in his country, making him the first Sri Lankan to be honored with this award.

The Harvard Ministerial Leadership in Health Award was conferred upon him by the Harvard School of Public Health & Kennedy School of Government, United States of America in 2013 for the innovative leadership role he played in his tenure as Minister of Health in Sri Lanka. Again this was the first time the honor had been bestowed upon a Sri Lankan.