Wijeyananda Dahanayake

Prime Minister of Ceylon

22 October 1902 Galle, British Ceylon

4 May 1997(1997-05-04) (94) Galle, Sri Lanka

26 September 1959 – 20 March 1960

This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2019 ) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Wijeyananda Dahanayake (Sinhala: විජයානන්ද දහනායක Tamil: விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா ; 22 October 1902 – 4 May 1997) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from September 1959 to March 1960. Born to as twin to a conservative family in Galle as Don Wijeyananda Dahanayake, he was educated at Richmond College, Galle and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He became a teacher at St. Aloysius' College, Galle before entering active politics having been elected to the Galle Municipal Council in 1939 as a leftist and served as Mayor of Galle. In 1944, he was elected to the State Council of Ceylon and was thereafter elected to the House of Representatives. He served as the member of parliament from Galle from 1947 to 1977, with a brief interval in 1960. In 1956 he was appointed to the Cabinet of Ministers as the Minister of Education. He unexpectedly succeeded S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike as Prime Minister when the latter was assassinated on 26 September 1959. His tenure as the caretaker Prime Minister was short as he was unable to keep together the alliance formed by Bandaranaike. He dismissed the Cabinet of Ministers and called for fresh elections, for which he formed his own party. Although he least his parliamentary seat in the 1960 March elections, he regained it in the general election that followed two months later. Sitting in the opposition from 1960 to 1965, he served as Minister of Home Affairs from 1960 to 1965 and again sat in opposition from 1970 to 1977. He then served as Minister of Co-operatives from 1986 to 1988. He is noted for having contested from almost every major party of his time and has the record for the longest speech in parliament, lasting thirteen and half hours.