Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and former Opposition Leader MP R. Sampanthan has passed away at the age of 91.
He has reportedly passed away while receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.
A veteran Tamil politician and prominent figure in country’s main Tamil alliance – Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), his political career spanned six decades, with his first stint in the Sri Lankan parliament starting in 1977.
Sampanthan was the incumbent MP for Trincomalee District and has served in five parliaments since 1977.
A lawyer by profession, Sampanthan led the Tamil National Alliance since 2001. He was a Member of Parliament continuously from 2001 until his death in 2024, and previously served as a MP from 1977 to 1983 and from 1997 to 2000.
He was the Leader of the Opposition from September 2015 to December 2018.
In April this year, the Parliament had granted the former TNA leader and Trincomalee District MP leave of three months from attending Parliament sessions as he was receiving medical treatment.
Born on February 5, 1933, R. Sampanthan commenced his career as a lawyer.
In the 1977 general election, he was elected from the Trincomalee district, marking the beginning of his political journey.
He served as a Member of Parliament from 1977 to 1983 and again from 1997 to 2000.
From 2001 until his passing, R. Sampanthan remained a Member of Parliament and notably became the 14th Opposition Leader in the Sri Lankan Parliament, serving in the position from 2015 to 2018.
Following A. Amirthalingam’s tenure as Leader of the Opposition in 1977, R. Sampanthan became the second Tamil National Opposition Leader in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary history.