Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Jayaratne (, ; 4 June 1931 â 19 November 2019), commonly known as D. M. "Di Mu" Jayaratne, was a Sri Lankan politician who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015. A founding member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Jayaratne was first elected to parliament in 1970.
Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Jayaratne was born on 4 June 1931. He was educated at Doluwa Maha Vidyalaya and Zahira College in Gampola, a town just outside Kandy. Following the founding of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951 by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Jayaratne worked as a teacher at Doluwa Maha Vidyalaya. He later worked as postmaster at Doluwa from 1960 to 1962.
Jayaratne started his political career after being elected as a member of the Village Council of Doluwa, where he later became chairman of the Village Council. He also became president of the Kandy District Village Council Chairmen Association and a member of the Federation of All Ceylon Village Council.
He first entered parliament following the 1970 general election, obtaining 14,463 votes as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate in the Gampola electorate, defeating W. M. P. B. Dissanayake of the United National Party (UNP). He was subsequently defeated by Dissanayake in the 1977 election, which saw only 8 members of the SLFP return to parliament. He was re-elected to parliament in 1989 from the Kandy District under the new preferential voting system. He obtained 54,290 preferential votes, topping the SLFP list in the Kandy District.
Re-elected to parliament under the People's Alliance in 1994, Jayaratne was appointed Minister of Land, Agriculture and Forestry by president Chandrika Kumaratunga, entering the cabinet for the first time. He held several senior party positions such as Secretary General of People's United Front and Senior Vice President of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Ministerial appointments Jayaratne held included:
Following the electoral victory of the United People's Freedom Alliance at the 2010 general election, Jayaratne, the most senior member of the SLFP, was sworn in as prime minister on 21 April 2010. Jayaratne simultaneously held the position of Minister of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.
Jayaratne had three children. His youngest son, Anuradha Jayaratne, is a member of parliament and former State Minister.
On 19 November 2019, Jayaratne died at the age of 88.