Politics of Sri Lanka - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

For other political parties see List of political parties in Sri Lanka. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Sri Lanka.

In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that Presidential Elections would be held in November 2005, resolving a long-running dispute on the length of President Kumaratunga's term. Mahinda Rajapaksa was nominated the SLFP candidate and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe UNP candidate. The Election was held on November 17, 2005, and Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka with a 50.29% of valid votes, compared to Ranil Wickremesinghe's 48.43%. Mahinda Rajapaksa took oath as President on November 19, 2005. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister on November 21, 2005, to fill the post vacated by Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was previously Prime Minister in 2000.

e • d Summary of the 2010 Sri Lankan presidential election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mahinda Rajapaksa	United People's Freedom Alliance	6,015,934	57.88%
	Sarath Fonseka	New Democratic Front	4,173,185	40.15%
	Mohomad Cassim Mohomad Ismail	Democratic United National Front	39,226	0.38%
	Achala Ashoka Suraweera	National Development Front	26,266	0.25%
	Channa Janaka Sugathsiri Gamage	United Democratic Front	23,290	0.22%
	W. V. Mahiman Ranjith	Independent	18,747	0.18%
	A. S. P Liyanage	Sri Lanka Labour Party	14,220	0.14%
	Sarath Manamendra	New Sinhala Heritage	9,684	0.09%
	M. K. Shivajilingam	Independent	9,662	0.09%
	Ukkubanda Wijekoon	Independent	9,381	0.09%
	Lal Perera	Our National Front	9,353	0.09%
	Siritunga Jayasuriya	United Socialist Party	8,352	0.08%
	Vikramabahu Karunaratne	Left Front	7,055	0.07%
	Aithurus M. Illias	Independent	6,131	0.06%
	Wije Dias	Socialist Equality Party	4,195	0.04%
	Sanath Pinnaduwa	National Alliance	3,523	0.03%
	M. Mohamed Musthaffa	Independent	3,134	0.03%
	Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero	Jana Setha Peramuna	2,770	0.03%
	Senaratna de Silva	Patriotic National Front	2,620	0.03%
	Aruna de Zoyza	Ruhuna People's Party	2,618	0.03%
	Upali Sarath Kongahage	United National Alternative Front	2,260	0.02%
	Muthu Bandara Theminimulla	All Are Citizens, All Are Kings Organisation	2,007	0.02%
Valid Votes			10,393,613	100.00%
Rejected Votes			101,838
Total Polled			10,495,451
Registered Electors			14,088,500
Turnout			74.50%
Source: Department of Elections, Sri Lanka

e • d Summary of the 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats
				District	National	Total
	United People's Freedom Alliance All Ceylon Muslim Congress Ceylon Workers' Congress Communist Party of Sri Lanka Eelam People's Democratic Party1 Jathika Hela Urumaya Lanka Sama Samaja Party Mahajana Eksath Peramuna National Congress National Freedom Front Sri Lanka Freedom Party Up-Country People's Front2	4,846,388	60.33%	127	17	144
	United National Front3 Democratic People's Front Sri Lanka Muslim Congress United National Party	2,357,057	29.34%	51	9	60
	Tamil National Alliance4 Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization	233,190	2.90%	13	1	14
	Democratic National Alliance Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	441,251	5.49%	5	2	7
	Independent lists	38,947	0.48%	0	0	0
	Up-Country People's Front2	24,670	0.31%	0	0	0
	Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal	20,284	0.25%	0	0	0
	Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya	12,170	0.15%	0	0	0
	Tamil United Liberation Front	9,223	0.11%	0	0	0
	Tamil National People's Front5 All Ceylon Tamil Congress	7,544	0.09%	0	0	0
	Democratic People's Liberation Front People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam	6,036	0.08%	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka National Front	5,313	0.07%	0	0	0
	Others	31,644	0.39%	0	0	0
Valid Votes		8,033,717	100.00%	196	29	225
Rejected Votes		596,972
Total Polled		8,630,689
Registered Electors		14,088,500
Turnout		61.26%
Source: Department of Elections, Sri Lanka