Ranil Wickramasinghe
A lawyer by profession, Mr Wickramasinghe comes from an affluent family.
He was first elected to parliament in 1977 and quickly moved up the party ladder after Ranasinghe Pramadasa was elected President in 1989.
He was made the minister of industries and leader of the house, and then went on to be prime minister for 16 months until Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance coalition came to power in 1994.
In the same year, he became the leader of the United National Party when Gamini Dissanayake was killed by suspected rebels of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Mr Wickramasinghe improved his party's image by appointing a disciplinary commission to get rid of corrupt party members.
He also tried to change his personal image with various different haircuts to give himself a more appealing look and he tried to broaden the UNP's public support by touring many villages.
But the threat of Tamil violence has dogged Mr Wickramasinghe like his predecessors.
He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off at a meeting he was addressing in the town of Eppawala.
Two previous UNP leaders, Mr Premadasa and Mr Dissanayake, were both killed by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels.
A lawyer by profession, Mr Wickramasinghe comes from an affluent family.
He was first elected to parliament in 1977 and quickly moved up the party ladder after Ranasinghe Pramadasa was elected President in 1989.
He was made the minister of industries and leader of the house, and then went on to be prime minister for 16 months until Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance coalition came to power in 1994.
In the same year, he became the leader of the United National Party when Gamini Dissanayake was killed by suspected rebels of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Mr Wickramasinghe improved his party's image by appointing a disciplinary commission to get rid of corrupt party members.
He also tried to change his personal image with various different haircuts to give himself a more appealing look and he tried to broaden the UNP's public support by touring many villages.
But the threat of Tamil violence has dogged Mr Wickramasinghe like his predecessors.
He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off at a meeting he was addressing in the town of Eppawala.
Two previous UNP leaders, Mr Premadasa and Mr Dissanayake, were both killed by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels.
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