title: List of governors of Southern Province
text: # List of governors of Southern Province
  
  The governor of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: දකුණු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා Dakunu palāth āndukāravarayā) is responsible for the management of the Southern Provincial Council. Some of the office's key functions include exercising powers vested in the governor by the Provincial Council Act No. 42 of 1987 amended by Act No. 28 of 1990 and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
  
  ## Governors
  
  Independent  Sri Lanka Freedom Party  United National Party  Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
  
  | No. | Name | Party | Took office | Left office |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Abdul Bakeer Markar | United National Party | 13 June 1988 | December 1993 |
  | 2 | Leslie Mervyn Jayaratne | United National Party | December 1993 | December 1994 |
  | 3 | Neville Kanakeratne | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | January 1995 | 20 September 1999 |
  | 4 | Ananda Dassanayake | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | September 1999 | January 2002 |
  | 5 | Kingsley Wickramaratne | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 1 February 2002 | 23 October 2006 |
  | 6 | Kumari Balasuriya | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 23 October 2006 | 23 January 2015 |
  | 7 | Hemakumara Nanayakkara | United National Party | 23 January 2015 | 11 April 2018 |
  | 8 | Marshal Perera | Independent | 12 April 2018 | 9 January 2019 |
  | 9 | Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon | Independent | 9 January 2019 | 3 August 2019 |
  | 10 | Hemal Gunasekara | United People's Freedom Alliance | 4 August 2019 | 20 November 2019 |
  | 11 | Willy Gamage | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 21 November 2019 | Incumbent |
  