9th Parliament of Sri Lanka

The 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 1989 parliamentary election held on 15 February 1989. The parliament met for the first time on 9 March 1989 and was dissolved on 24 June 1994.

The 9th parliamentary elections were held on 15 February 1989. The incumbent United National Party (UNP) retained control of parliament by winning 125 of the 225 available seats. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main opposition party, won 67 seats. The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a Tamil militant group, won 13 seats contesting as independent groups whilst an alliance of Tamil parties (TULF/ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO) won 10 seats. The remaining 10 seats were won by smaller parties.^[1]

Alliance		Votes	%	Seats
	United National Party	2,838,005	50.71%	125
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1,785,369	31.90%	67
	Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students	229,877	4.11%	13
	Tamil United Liberation Front Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization	188,594	3.37%	10
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	202,016	3.61%	4
	United Socialist Alliance	160,271	2.86%	3
	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	91,128	1.63%	3
	Others	101,208	1.80%	0
Total		5,596,468	100.00%	225

The new parliament was sworn in on 9 March 1989. M. H. Mohamed was elected Speaker, Gamini Fonseka was elected Deputy Speaker and Ariya B. Rekawa was elected Deputy Chairman of Committees.

On 3 March 1989, President Ranasinghe Premadasa appointed D. B. Wijetunga as Prime Minister.^[1] The rest of the cabinet had been appointed earlier, on 18 February 1989.^[1]

President Premadasa was assassinated on 1 May 1993. The parliament elected Prime Minister Wijetunga to succeed Premadasa as the president and was duly sworn in on 7 May 1993. The same day, President Wijetunga appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Prime Minister.

President Wijetunga dissolved parliament early on 24 June 1994, several months before the expiry of its term.

The 9th parliament saw the following deaths and resignations:

• 13 July 1989 – Appapillai Amirthalingam (TULF/NAT) assassinated. Replaced by Mavai Senathirajah (TULF/NAT).
• 25 June 1989 – Anura Daniel Mahavithanaarachchige (UNP/KAN) assassinated. Replaced by Gemunu Rajendranth Abeysundre (UNP/KAN).^[2]
• 11 May 1990 – Sam Tambimuttu (EPRLF/BAT) assassinated. Replaced by Joseph Pararajasingham (TULF/BAT).
• 19 June 1990 – G. Yogasangari (EPRLF/JAF) assassinated.
• 2 March 1991 – Ranjan Wijeratne (UNP/NAT) assassinated.
• 23 April 1993 – Lalith Athulathmudali (DUNF/COL) assassinated.^[3]
• 7 May 1993 – D. B. Wijetunga (UNP/KAN) vacated his seat to assume the office of President of Sri Lanka.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)

• "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1989" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.^{[permanent dead link]}