Book Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, widely known as CBK, is a Sri Lankan political leader who was the fifth President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005, making her the longest-serving president in the country's history. Born in 1945, she grew up in a political dynasty: both her father, Solomon Bandaranaike, and her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, led the country as prime minister. She entered public life in the 1970s with a focus on social welfare and rural development, became Chief Minister of the Western Province in 1993, and in 1994 took the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which she led until 2006. In 1994 she built the People's Alliance coalition, won the parliamentary elections, served as Prime Minister, and then won the presidency with close to 62 percent of the vote, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Re-elected in 1999, she also held the defence and finance portfolios and moved her party toward a more market-friendly, socially minded economic agenda. She founded the United People's Freedom Alliance, has worked with the United Nations, and has been named a Commander of the Legion of Honour.