Ranil Wickremesinghe (Sinhala: රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ; Tamil: ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. Wickremesinghe has held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment. Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party (UNP) since 1994. He is also the eighth executive president of Sri Lanka, a role established by the 1977 constitutional amendment that expanded presidential powers.

Born into a political family, Wickremesinghe graduated from the University of Ceylon and qualified as a lawyer from the Ceylon Law College in 1972. He entered politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, first being elected to Parliament in 1977. Over the years, he held various ministerial positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Youth Affairs and Employment, and Industry, Science and Technology. He first became prime minister in 1993 following the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Wickremesinghe ran for president as the UNP candidate in 1999 and 2005, but was defeated both times. In 2015, he was appointed prime minister by president Maithripala Sirisena, leading a national unity government until 2019. During his tenure, he was controversially sacked by Sirisena in 2018, triggering a constitutional crisis, but was reappointed prime minister after the Supreme Court declared his sacking as unconstitutional. He lost his parliamentary seat in 2020 but re-entered parliament in 2021 as a National List MP.

In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister by president Gotabaya Rajapaksa amidst the then-ongoing political crisis. Following Rajapaksa's resignation in July 2022, Wickremesinghe assumed the presidency in an acting capacity and was subsequently elected as the 9th president and the 8th executive president of Sri Lanka by parliament on 20 July 2022. He took office the following day. He attempted to run for a full term in his own right in 2024 but failed to win reelection, finishing in third place with 17.27% of the vote.

Born on 24 March 1949 in Colombo, Wickremesinghe was the second son of Esmond Wickremesinghe and Nalini Wickremesinghe née Wijewardena. His father was a lawyer who became a press baron taking over the Lake House Group of newspapers. His grandfathers were Cyril Wickremesinghe of the Ceylon Civil Service and the press baron, D. R. Wijewardhena.

Wickremesinghe was educated at the Royal Preparatory School and at the Royal College, Colombo where he was a classmate and friend of Anura Bandaranaike, son of then Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike; and Dinesh Gunawardena, son of socialist leader Philip Gunawardena. Wickremesinghe entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Ceylon at its Colombo Campus which is now the University of Colombo. After graduation, he completed the law exams at the Ceylon Law College and took oaths as an advocate in 1972 after having apprenticed under H. W. Jayewardene, QC. He became an Attorney at law following the changes to the legal profession in 1973. Wickremesinghe received an honorary doctorate from Deakin University in Australia on 14 February 2017 for his significant contributions in reforms in economy, education and human rights.

Wickremesinghe joined the United National Party (UNP) and progressed through its ranks. He was appointed the chief organizer of the Kelaniya Electorate in the mid-1970s, and was later appointed the chief organizer of the Biyagama Electorate, which he won in the 1977 parliamentary elections and entered parliament. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new government of J. R. Jayewardene, and was soon promoted to the post of Minister of Youth Affairs & Employment on 5 October 1977, which made him the youngest cabinet minister of Sri Lanka. During his term as minister, he initiated the Sri Lanka National Guard and the National Youth Services Council (NYSCO), which provides vocational and career training to school leavers. Wickremesinghe was later made the Minister of Education on 14 February 1980.

Under the presidency of Ranasinghe Premadasa, Wickremesinghe was appointed the Minister of Industry on 18 February 1989, under which he initiated industrial reforms and established the Biyagama Special Economic Zone. In 1990, he was given the additional portfolios of Science and Technology. Wickremesinghe had competition from his senior colleagues in the UNP, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake, who had been rivals of President Premadasa. He was appointed Leader of the House in 1989.