In 1991 Kumaratunga returned to Sri Lanka and in the 1994 national elections her new coalition, the People's Alliance, won with a majority of one seat. People were optimistic that after seventeen years of fear, Kumaratunga could bring peace to Sri Lanka. In August 1994, when she was 48, she was sworn in as Prime Minister. She promised to end the island's conflict and immediately began talks with the Tamil Tigers. Soon she was seen as leading candidate for President in the November 1994 elections. She went on to win with 62% of the popular vote and became President of Sri Lanka, appointing her mother as Prime Minister at the age of 78.

Whereas her mother had been called a "kitchen woman" (someone who knew all about cooking but nothing about running a country) when she was first elected, Chandrika Kumaratunga was well educated and had been involved in politics. She says that she did not experience any discrimination because of her sex.

 "I have never in Sri Lanka ever felt that I was discriminated against or my authority was contested by the men working under my authority - just utterly and totally accepted. In this country the fact that you are a woman doesn't deter you from doing anything if you are talented and you can do your job properly just the same as for a man."

She believes that one of the reasons for the lack of discrimination is the long history of women's involvement in politics in Sri Lanka. It was one of the first countries this century to give women as well as men the right to vote when they acquired universal suffrage in 1932, before many countries in the West.