Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, commonly known as Kotte, is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is located adjacent to the urban area of Sri Lanka's de facto economic, executive, and judicial capital, Colombo.

Junius Richard Jayewardene, commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as J.R., was a Sri Lankan lawyer, Public official and a stateman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the second President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence. A longtime member of the United National Party, he led it to a landslide victory in 1977 and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country's first executive president under an amended constitution.