Maithripala Sirisena, born in 1951, is a politician in Sri Lanka. He had his formal education at Laksha Uyana School, and Topawawa Maha Vidyalaya. He completed a diploma in Agriculture at the School of Agriculture, Sri Lanka and a diploma in Political Science at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, Russia. He was elected to the parliament in 1989 as one of Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s candidates from Polonnaruwa District, and subsequently held several ministerial portfolios as a Minister until 2014. He served as the 7th Executive President of Sri Lanka from January 2015 to November 2019. Sirisena was born in to a farming family. His father Pallewatte Gamaralalage Albert Sirisena was a World War II veteran. His mother, Yapa Appuhamilage Dona Nandawathi, was a school teacher.[3] Two of his brothers received media spotlight in recent years; Dudley Sirisena, the Chairman of Araliya Group of Companies and P. G. Kumarasinghe, a Sri Lankan business executive and former Group Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom. He is married to Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari and they have two daughters, Chathurika Sirisena, Dharani Sirisena, and a son, Daham Sirisena.