Ravinda Ramayarin

Ravinda Ramayarin (b. 13 October 1973) is a Georgeland politician currently serving as Chief Minister of the state of Capitalia. Of Sinhalese parents and born in Lanka Sri Lanka, she is the first Asian-Georgelander to head a state government, and the first head of a Georgeland government to be a Buddhist.

Ramayarin was born in Maho, Sri Lanka in 1973 to M Chamal Ramayarin, a businessman, and his wife Suriya, a barrister. Ramayarin and her five siblings had a middle-class upbringing, but were displaced due to the Sri Lankan Civil War. Two of her siblings, and her father, were killed in the war, prompting Ramayarin's mother to flee the country with her family. After a period in refugee camps, they settled in New Kikipolis in October 1988, when Ramayarin was fifteen years old. The family originally intended to return to Sri Lanka, but were granted permanent residency in 1991, and Ramayarin became a Georgeland citizen in 1998.

Ramayarin studied communications at the University of Capitalia, graduating in 1996. She was eligible to study as a permanent resident, but as a non-citizen was not able to claim the low-fee education afforded all Georgeland citizens. She later credited this with her lifelong interest in education for migrant communities - as education minister for Capitalia in 2014, Ramayarin oversaw a change to the state system, allowing permanent residents to recieve education benefits. At university, Ramayarin was active in centre-left student politics but was, as a non-citizen, ineligible to join any political parties. She and a group of other migrant students formed a political club and allied themselves with Labour for student elections; Ramayarin was Vice President of the UC Student Council from 1995-96. She formally joined the Labour Party in 1997, but left it in 1999 and joined the nascent Liberals.

After a period in marketing and the state civil service, Ramayarin entered politics, standing as the fifth state candidate for the Senate in the federal election of 2002. She was mathematically unlikely to be elected and was not, but the attempt made a name for herself inside the Capitalian Liberal Party. At the state election of 2005, Ramayarin was elected to the seat of East Coast, where she had settled with her family the previous year. The state Liberal and Democratic parties merged to form the local Liberal Democrats the same year.

Ramayarin was appointed to the state ministry by Anna Cole in 2009, becoming Minister for Transport and Aviation. In 2012, she was moved to become Education Minister, and retained the position when Melissa Wright succeeded Cole as Chief Minister. In May 2015, John Nandy retired as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and Ramayarin was elected to replace him. Now viewed as a popular and effective member of the government, Ramayarin was widely touted as the next leader.

Wright resigned as leader and Chief Minister in June 2016, rather than face a no-confidence motion among her party members. Ramayarin was one of three candidates who stood for the leadership. Ramayarin placed second ahead of Jeremy Hoffman but behind Tom Vance. In the membership ballot, conducted throughout July, Ramayarin won 57% of the vote to Vance's 43%. She was sworn in as Chief Minister by Governor Emma Hewitt on 4 August.

As Chief Minister, Ramayarin has presided over a falling economic situation, in part brought on by the collapse of CapFund, the state's largest investment bank. State unemployment has continued to rise since 2016. The Ramayarin government announced plans in late 2016 to make the state run on 100% renewable energy by 2030, a plan considered ambitious but achievable. Ramayarin's government has also increased funding to local police services and legalised prostitution, which had been illegal (if unenforced) for decades.

Ramayarin won re-election at the state poll of April 2017, with a swing towards it of 3%. Despite the strong showing, the opposition Conservatives polled almost as well and the government lost its working majority; it had been governing with support of the Green Party and two Independents. The Green vote increased but the Alliance vote went down, and the two independents were defeated. Ramayarin came to an agreement to continue governing with the Greens, but included the Alliance in her second government. Alliance leader Mike Winston became Miniser for Education and Greens leader Mehmet Kul continued as Minister for the Environment.

In June 2019, with her government polling as low as 10% in some polls, Ramayarin said she would resign as leader only if her party proposed a single alternative. Many expected Tom Vance to nominate, but he did not, and Ramayarin remained leader.

Ramayarin has never been married, but was in a long-term relationship with party official and businessman Joe Cooleman from 2001 to 2018. The couple have two children, but split in July 2018.