a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch,
Muslim, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence and National Day, 4 February (1948)

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:
Chief of State--President Ranasinghe PREMADASA (since 2 January 1989);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Dingiri Banda WIJETUNGE (since 6 March
1989)

Political parties and leaders:
United National Party (UNP), Ranasinghe Premadasa;
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sirimavo Bandaranaike;
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mhm. Ashraff;
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar Ponnambalam;
Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP, or People's United Front),
Dinesh Gundawardene;
Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP, or Sri Lanka People's Party),
Chandrika Baudaranaike Kumaranatunga;
Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP, Lanka Socialist Party/Trotskyite),
Colin R. de Silva;
Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP, or New Socialist Party),
Vasudeva Nanayakkara;
Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), leader NA;
Communist Party/Moscow (CP/M), K. P. Silva;
Communist Party/Beijing (CP/B), N. Shanmugathasan

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections:
President--last held 19 December 1988 (next to be held
December 1994);
results--Ranasinghe Premadasa (UNP) 50%,
Sirimavo Bandaranaike (SLFP) 45%, others 5%;

Parliament--last held 15 February 1989
(next to be held by February 1995);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(225 total) UNP 125, SLFP 67, others 33

Other political or pressure groups: Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and other smaller Tamil separatist groups; Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna (JVP or People's Liberation Front); Buddhist clergy; Sinhalese
Buddhist lay groups; labor unions

Member of: ADB, ANRPC, CCC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth, ESCAP, FAO, G-77,
GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL,
IPU, IRC, ITU, NAM, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador W. Susanta De ALWIS; Chancery at
2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 483-4025
through 4028; there is a Sri Lankan Consulate in New York;
US--Ambassador Marion V. CREEKMORE; Embassy at 210 Galle Road,
Colombo 3 (mailing address is P. O. Box 106, Colombo);
telephone p94o (1) 548007

Flag: yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side