Karu Jayasuriya

Sri Lankabhimanya Karu Jayasuriya (, ; born 29 September 1940) is a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Previously he was Mayor of Colombo from 1997 to 1999, Minister of Power and Energy from 2001 to 2004, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs from 2007 to 2008, and Minister of Buddha Sasana, Public Administration, and Democratic Governance in 2015. He has served as Chairman of the Leadership Council of the United National Party (UNP), as well as Deputy Leader of the UNP. He is a member of parliament representing the Gampaha District since 2001. He had served as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to (Germany). As Speaker of Parliament, he also acts as Chairman of the Constitutional Council.

Early life and education

Karu Jayasuriya was born on 29 September 1940 in Mirigama, Gampaha, to the family of Podi Appuhamy Jayasuriya and Wimalaseeli Jayasiriya. Jayasuriya was educated at Kandangamuwa Vidyalaya, Mirigama and at Ananda College, Colombo. He went on to gain professional membership (AICS) of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in 1965 and later gained fellowship (FICS). He trained in commodity trading at the Baltic Exchange and went on to receive Advanced Management Training at INSEAD. He later became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Military service

Jayasuriya joined the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force in 1965 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon National Guard. He was mobilized during the 1971 JVP insurrection and first come under fire while trying to reestablish rail links between Colombo and Anuradhapura. He left the army in 1972.

Political career

Mayor of Colombo

Jayasuriya became active in politics in late 1995 and he became party chairman in 1995 at the request of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. In 1996, Jayasuriya was nominated by the UNP of the local government elections as candidate for the post Mayor of Colombo, by passing Premadasa stalwart and former Mayor Sirisena Cooray. Jayasuriya was supported by both Wickremesinghe and Cooray as he was considered close to the former President Premadasa. Karu Jayasuriya won the election and became the Mayor of Colombo gaining much popularity and notability in the process, having been initially from a non-political background. He served as Mayor till 1999 efficiently administrating the country's most populous city.

Cabinet minister

Following the victory of the UNP at the General Elections in 2001, Karu Jayasuriya was appointed Minister of Power and Energy. Having inherited a challenging ministry he ensured a continued power supply and commenced reforms of the heavily indebted Electricity Board. With President Chandrika Kumaratunga's abrupt dissolution of parliament in April 2004, and the UNP's defeat at the ensuing election, he once again returned to the front benches of the Opposition. At the Presidential Elections of 2005, in which Wickremesinghe was the party's candidate, Jayasuriya was named as the nominee for the premiership in the event of the party's success. As an unofficial running mate, he traveled widely, actively campaigning for his leader.

Opposition

Wickremesinghe narrowly lost the election and following his defeat, there were requests by a section of the party for the leadership to be handed over to Jayasuriya. In the meantime, Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to co-operate with the peace process. Jayasuriya and his supporters insisted on taking a step further and joining the government formally by accepting ministerial office, which was strongly opposed by Wickremesinghe. The ensuing power struggle resulted in a bitter and acrimonious war of attrition between the two.

Cross over and return

After several abortive attempts to oust Wickremesinghe from the party leadership, Jayasuriya led a group of 18 parliamentarians, including several party front-liners, in crossing over to the government side. In the 2007 cabinet reshuffle after the crossover, he was appointed as Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs. He resigned from his Public Administration and Home Affairs portfolio on 9 December 2008 and rejoined the UNP as its deputy leader.

Return to government

In January 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Jayasuriya as Minister of Public Administration, Democratic Rule and Buddha Sasana after his victory in the presidential election.

Speaker of the Parliament

At the first session of the 8th Parliament, he was elected as Speaker on 1 September 2015. His name was proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and seconded by Nimal Siripala De Silva. Thilanga Sumathipala was elected as his deputy.

Presidential bid

In 2019, ahead of the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election, Karu Jayasuriya was publicly discussed as a potential presidential candidate amid internal divisions within the United National Party (UNP) over its nominee.

Jayasuriya stated that he was willing to consider contesting the presidency if invited, emphasizing that he would not seek the nomination through internal rivalry and would only proceed with broad consensus from party leadership and civil society groups. He further noted that any potential candidacy would be conditional on abolishing the Executive presidency in Sri Lanka, describing the office as a transitional mechanism for constitutional reform.

Despite continued media speculation and appeals from religious leaders and civil society organisations, Jayasuriya did not formally announce a candidacy or submit nomination papers, and the UNP ultimately selected Sajith Premadasa as its candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

Electoral history

+ Colombo Municipal Council ElectionYearConstituencyPositionPartyVotesResult 1997 Colombo Mayor of Colombo United National Party

+ Western Provincial Council ElectionYearProvincePositionPartyVotes%Status 1999 Western Province Provincial Councillor United National Party 68.98%

+ Parliamentary ElectionsYearDistrictPositionPartyAllianceVotes%±Result 2000 Gampaha District Member of Parliament United National Party 62.74% 62.74 2001 United National Front 58.51% 4.23 2004 54.96% 3.55 2010 22.62% 32.34

+ United National Party Leadership ElectionYearPositionVotes (MPs)%Result 2011 Leader of the UNP 26 22.7%

Honours

Government of Sri Lanka – Deshabandu – 1992 Japanese government – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun – 2016 Abdul Kalam Institute of Technological Sciences – Pride of Asia – 2019 Rāmañña Nikāya – Vishva Keerthishri Lanka Jana Ranjana – 2019 Malwathu Maha Viharaya – Sasana Keerthi Sri Deshabhimani – 2019 Amarapura Nikāya – Sadhu Jana Prasadhini Lankaputhra – 2019 --> Government of Sri Lanka – Sri Lankabhimanya – 2023