The 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2001 parliamentary election held on 5 December 2001. The parliament met for the first time on 19 December 2001 and was dissolved prematurely on 7 February 2004.

The 12th parliamentary election was held on 5 December 2001. The United National Front (UNF), a newly formed opposition alliance, became the largest group in Parliament by winning 109 of the 225 seats. The incumbent People's Alliance (PA) won 77 seats. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) won 16 seats and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a new alliance of Tamil parties, won 15 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining 8 seats.

The new parliament was sworn in on 19 December 2001.M. Joseph Michael Perera was elected Speaker unopposed. The post of Deputy Speaker was left vacant after the PA refused to nominate anyone. Siri Andrahennady was elected Deputy Chairman of Committees unopposed.

The UNF was able to form a government with the support of the five SLMC MPs elected under their party's name (the SLMC contested under its name in three districts and with the UNF in all other districts).

On 9 December 2001, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the UNF, as the new Prime Minister. The rest of the government, comprising 24 Ministers, 28 Project Ministers and 8 Deputy Ministers, were sworn in on 12 December 2001.

...
Wikipedia