Many former ministers, MPs fail to enter House
The landmark victory by the NPP caused a major upset in the old guard of former Parliamentarians by unseating several key politicians from the former regimes.
Several former ministers failed to secure a seat in the new Parliament. Some of those who lost their seats and are out of Parliament are former Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, former Ministers Ramesh Pathirana and Manusha Nanayakkara. Kanchana Wijesekera who served as Power and Energy Minister in the previous government failed to retain his seat. Former State Minister Sashindra Rajapaksa the only member from the Rajapaksa clan who contested for a seat, is also out of Parliament. Nipuna Ranawaka who is a Rajapaksa family member failed to secure a seat. Former Ministers Roshan Ranasinghe, S. M. Chandrasena, Duminda Dissanayake, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, former State Ministers Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, Rohana Dissanayaka, Daham Sirisena the son of former President Maithripala Sirisena failed to secure seats in the new parliament.
Former Minister Johnston Fernando who first entered Parliament in 2000 and served for over two decades is left without a Parliamentary seat for the first time in 24 years. Few other senior parliamentarians and ministers from the old guard who lost their seats this time include Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Susil Premajayantha, M. A. Sumanthiran from the Jaffna District, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan) from the Batticaloa District, Udaya Gammanpila, Nimal Siripala de Silva from Badulla, Harin Fernando from Badulla District, Buddhika Pathirana from Matara, Douglas Devananda from Jaffna. Actor turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake who secured the highest preferential votes from Gampaha District in 2015 also missed out on a place in the new Parliament. Sagala Ratnayake from the NDF, Sarath Weerasekera from the SLPP and Dilith Jayaweera from the Sarvajana Balaya party also failed to win any seats in the 10th Parliament.
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