Daisy Maria Florence Senanayake (née de Mel) (19 June 1903 – 3 December 1988) was the first female Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon).[1][2]
Daisy Maria Florence De Mel was born on 19 June 1903 into a family of eight children in Rawatawatta, Moratuwa. Her father, De Mel was a planter. She was educated at the Princess of Wales' College, Colombo.[3]
In 1925 she married Reginald S. Vincent Senanayke (1898–1946), a planter and founding member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and its treasurer between 1935 and 1939.[4]
Senanayake was elected in 1947 at the 1st Ceylonese parliamentary elections, as the member for Kiriella, representing the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.[5] She polled 5,535 votes (35.5% of the total vote) winning against a field of five other male candidates, with her nearest opponent, T. K. W. Chandrasekera, receiving 3,294 votes (21.1% of the total vote). Senanayake failed to retain the seat at the 2nd parliamentary elections in 1952, where she received 3,192 votes (15% of the total votes), with the successful candidate, A. E. B. Kiriella, polling 9,978 votes (48% of the total vote).[6]
She and her husband had six children, including the Laki Senanayake who became an artist.[7]
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
