Government

Sri Lanka is a parliamentary democracy, although the president has strong powers.

The president is the head of state and also holds the positions of head of the executive, head of government and commander in chief of the armed forces. He or she has the power to appoint or dismiss members of the cabinet and to dissolve the cabinet.

The president is elected by the people and holds office for a period of six years.

Sri Lanka has a unicameral legislature, with 225 members directly elected for five years by a system of modified proportional representation.

In 1987, Sri Lanka's constitution was amended to allow greater powers for nine directly elected provincial councils, with the aim of meeting Tamil demands for greater autonomy. However, ongoing ethnic conflict has caused delays in elections in a number of the provinces.

Since Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, politics have been dominated by two main parties - the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP).

Sri Lanka's law is a mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law. The president appoints judges to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.