Elections in Sri Lanka

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This article is part of a series on the

Politics of
Sri Lanka

Constitution

* Amendments
* Law
* Human rights
* Taxation

* * *

Previous Constitutions

* 1931
* 1947
* 1972

Executive

President of Sri Lanka (10th)

* Anura Kumara Dissanayake

* * *

Ministerial portfolios

* Defence
* Finance, Planning and
Economic Development
* Digital Economy

* * *

Administration

* Dissanayake I
* Dissanayake II

* * *

* Presidential Secretariat

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (16th)

* Harini Amarasuriya

* * *

Ministerial portfolios

* Education, Higher Education and
Vocational Education

* * *

* Prime Minister's Office

Cabinet of Sri Lanka

* List of Cabinets
* Ministers
* Ministries
* Cabinet Office

* * *

* National Security Council

Legislature

Parliament of Sri Lanka (17th)

* * *

* Speaker (23rd)

* Jagath Wickramaratne

* * *

* Deputy Speaker and
Chairman of Committees

* Rizvie Salih

* * *

* Deputy Chairperson of Committees

* Hemali Weerasekara

* * *

* Leader of the Opposition

* Sajith Premadasa

* * *

* Leader of the House

* Bimal Rathnayake

* * *

* Chief Government Whip

* Nalinda Jayatissa

* * *

* Chief Opposition Whip

* Gayantha Karunathilaka

* * *

* Constitutional Council
* COPE
* Parliament Secretariat

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

* Cabinet Minister

* Ananda Wijepala

Judiciary

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

* Chief Justice (48th)

* Murdu Fernando

* * *

* Justices of the Supreme Court

Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka

* President of the Court of Appeal

* Nalin Abeysooriya

* * *

* Judges of the Court of Appeal

* * *

* High Court
* District Court
* Magistrate's Court
* Primary Court
* Labour Tribunal

* * *

* Judicial Service Commission
* Bar Association
* Law enforcement

Attorney General's Department

* Attorney General (49th)

* Parinda Ranasinghe Jr.

* * *

* Solicitor General

* Viraj Dayaratne

Ministry of Justice

* Cabinet Minister

* Harshana Nanayakkara

Elections

Election Commission

* Chairman

* R. M. A. L. Rathnayake

* * *

* Members

Elections

* Presidential

* 1982
* 1988
* 1994
* 1999
* 2005
* 2010
* 2015
* 2019
* 2024

* * *

* Parliamentary

* 1947
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960 (M)
* 1960 (J)
* 1965
* 1970
* 1977
* 1989
* 1994
* 2000
* 2001
* 2004
* 2010
* 2015
* 2020
* 2024
* Next

* * *

* Provincial council

* 1988 (NE)
* 1999
* 2004
* 2008/09
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014 (M)
* 2014 (S)

* * *

* Local government

* 1998
* 2009
* 2011
* 2018
* 2019 (E)
* 2024 (E)
* 2025

Referendum

* 1982

* * *

* Electoral districts
* Polling divisions
* Political parties

Administrative divisions

Provinces

* Central
* Eastern
* North Central
* Northern
* North Western
* Sabaragamuwa
* Southern
* Uva
* Western

Districts

* Ampara
* Anuradhapura
* Badulla
* Batticaloa
* Colombo
* Galle
* Gampaha
* Hambantota
* Jaffna
* Kalutara
* Kandy
* Kegalle
* Kilinochchi
* Kurunegala
* Mannar
* Matale
* Matara
* Monaragala
* Mullaitivu
* Nuwara Eliya
* Polonnaruwa
* Puttalam
* Ratnapura
* Trincomalee
* Vavuniya

* * *

* District Secretariats
* Divisional Secretariats
* Grama Niladhari divisions
* Cities
* Towns
* Capital city

Devolution

* 13th Amendment
* Indo-Sri Lanka Accord

* * *

* Provincial Councils
* Governors
* Chief Ministers
* Councillors

* * *

* Local government
* Municipal Councils
* Urban Councils
* Pradeshiya Sabhas

Ministry of Provincial Councils
and Local Government

* Cabinet Minister

* Chandana Abayarathna

Central Bank

* Governor

* Nandalal Weerasinghe

* * *

* Currency
* Banknotes
* Economy

Ministry of Finance

* Cabinet Minister

* Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Foreign relations

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

* Cabinet Minister

* Vijitha Herath

* * *

* Diplomatic missions of / in Sri Lanka
* Ambassadors and high commissioners

* * *

* Passports
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Sri Lanka elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. Sri Lanka has a multi-party system, with two dominant political parties. All elections are administered by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.

## President

[edit]

See also: List of presidential elections in Sri Lanka

The president is directly elected for a five-year term, through a version of Instant-runoff voting in which electors rank up to three candidates, and limited to only two rounds in total. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, second and third preferences from ballots whose first preference candidate has been eliminated are used to determine the winner.[1] However, there was never an instance where a "run-off" count was needed since the introduction of directly elected president in the 1980s until the 2024 election. No candidate reached 50% in the first count in that election, so the second count was performed.

## Parliament

[edit]

The Parliament has 225 members, elected for a five-year term, 196 members elected in multi-seat constituencies through proportional representation system where each party is allocated a number of seats from the quota for each district according to the proportion of the total vote that party obtains in the district. The other 29 which is called the national list are appointed by each party secretary according to the island wide proportional vote the party obtains.

## Local Government

[edit]

The Local government bodies in Sri Lanka;

* Municipal Councils
* Urban Councils
* Pradeshiya Sabha

are elected through the mixed electoral system.

## Latest elections

[edit]

### 2024 presidential election

[edit]

Candidate| Party| First preference| Total votes

|
|
|

Votes| %| Votes| %
| Anura Kumara Dissanayake| National People's Power| 5,634,915| 42.31| 5,740,179| 55.89
| Sajith Premadasa| Samagi Jana Balawegaya| 4,363,035| 32.76| 4,530,902| 44.11
| Ranil Wickremesinghe| Independent| 2,299,767| 17.27|
| Namal Rajapaksa| Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna| 342,781| 2.57|
| P. Ariyanethiran| Independent| 226,343| 1.70|
| Dilith Jayaweera| Communist Party of Sri Lanka| 122,396| 0.92|
| K. K. Piyadasa| Independent| 47,543| 0.36|
| D. M. Bandaranayake| Independent| 30,660| 0.23|
| Sarath Fonseka| Independent| 22,407| 0.17|
| Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe| National Democratic Front| 21,306| 0.16|
| Anuruddha Polgampola| Independent| 15,411| 0.12|
| Sarath Keerthirathne| Independent| 15,187| 0.11|
| K. R. Krishan| Arunalu People's Front| 13,595| 0.10|
| Suranjeewa Anoj de Silva| Democratic United National Front| 12,898| 0.10|
| Priyantha Wickremesinghe| Nava Sama Samaja Party| 12,760| 0.10|
| Namal Rajapaksha| Samabima Party| 12,700| 0.10|
| Akmeemana Dayarathana Thero| Independent| 11,536| 0.09|
| Nuwan Bopege| Socialist People's Forum| 11,191| 0.08|
| Ajantha de Zoyza| Ruhunu People's Party| 10,548| 0.08|
| Victor Anthony Perera| Independent| 10,374| 0.08|
| Siripala Amarasinghe| Independent| 9,035| 0.07|
| Siritunga Jayasuriya| United Socialist Party (Sri Lanka)| 8,954| 0.07|
| Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero| People's Welfare Front| 6,839| 0.05|
| Abubakar Mohamed Infaz| Democratic Unity Alliance| 6,531| 0.05|
| Pemasiri Manage| Independent| 5,822| 0.04|
| Mahinda Dewage| Socialist Party of Sri Lanka| 5,338| 0.04|
| Keerthi Wickremeratne| Our People's Power Party| 4,676| 0.04|
| Pani Wijesiriwardena| Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)| 4,410| 0.03|
| Oshala Herath| New Independent Front| 4,253| 0.03|
| Roshan Ranasinghe| Independent| 4,205| 0.03|
| P. W. S. K. Bandaranayake| National Development Front| 4,070| 0.03|
| Ananda Kularatne| Independent| 4,013| 0.03|
| Lalith de Silva| United National Freedom Front| 3,004| 0.02|
| Sidney Jayarathna| Independent| 2,799| 0.02|
| Janaka Ratnayake| United Lanka People's Party| 2,405| 0.02|
| M. Thilakarajah| Independent| 2,138| 0.02|
| Sarath Manamendra| New Sinhala Heritage| 1,911| 0.01|
| A. S. P. Liyanage| Sri Lanka Labour Party| 1,860| 0.01|
Total| 13,319,616| 100.00| 10,271,081| 100.00

### 2024 parliamentary election

[edit]

Party| Votes| %| Seats
District| National| Total
| National People's Power| 6,863,186| 61.56| 141| 18| 159
| Samagi Jana Balawegaya| 1,968,716| 17.66| 35| 5| 40
| New Democratic Front (Sri Lanka)| 500,835| 4.49| 3| 2| 5
| Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna| 350,429| 3.14| 2| 1| 3
| Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi| 257,813| 2.31| 7| 1| 8
| Sarvajana Balaya| 178,006| 1.60| 0| 1| 1
| Sri Lanka Muslim Congress| 87,038| 0.78| 2| 1| 3
| United Democratic Voice| 83,488| 0.75| 0| 0| 0
| United National Party| 66,234| 0.59| 1| 0| 1
| Democratic Tamil National Alliance| 65,382| 0.59| 1| 0| 1
| Democratic Left Front (Sri Lanka)| 50,836| 0.46| 0| 0| 0
| Democratic National Alliance (Sri Lanka)| 45,419| 0.41| 0| 0| 0
| Tamil National People's Front| 39,894| 0.36| 1| 0| 1
| Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal| 34,440| 0.31| 0| 0| 0
| All Ceylon Makkal Congress| 33,911| 0.30| 1| 0| 1
| People's Struggle Alliance| 29,611| 0.27| 0| 0| 0
| Eelam People's Democratic Party| 28,985| 0.26| 0| 0| 0
| Jaffna – Independent Group 17| 30,637| 0.27| 1| 0| 1
| National Democratic Front (Sri Lanka)| 25,444| 0.23| 0| 0| 0
| United National Alliance| 22,548| 0.20| 0| 0| 0
| Sri Lanka Labour Party| 17,710| 0.16| 1| 0| 1
| Devana Parapura| 16,950| 0.15| 0| 0| 0
| Tamil People's Alliance| 13,295| 0.12| 0| 0| 0
| Jana Setha Peramuna| 12,743| 0.11| 0| 0| 0
| National Front for Good Governance| 8,447| 0.08| 0| 0| 0
| United National Freedom Front| 7,796| 0.07| 0| 0| 0
| Arunalu Peoples Alliance| 7,666| 0.07| 0| 0| 0
| New Independent Front| 7,182| 0.06| 0| 0| 0
| National People's Party (Sri Lanka)| 6,307| 0.06| 0| 0| 0
| Our Power of People's Party| 6,043| 0.05| 0| 0| 0
| Tamil United Liberation Front| 5,061| 0.05| 0| 0| 0
| Democratic United National Front| 4,480| 0.04| 0| 0| 0
| Samabima Party| 4,449| 0.04| 0| 0| 0
| Patriotic People's Power| 3,985| 0.04| 0| 0| 0
| Eros Democratic Front| 2,865| 0.03| 0| 0| 0
| Democratic Unity Alliance| 2,198| 0.02| 0| 0| 0
| Socialist Party of Sri Lanka| 2,087| 0.02| 0| 0| 0
| Jathika Sangwardhena Peramuna| 1,920| 0.02| 0| 0| 0
| United Socialist Party (Sri Lanka)| 1,838| 0.02| 0| 0| 0
| Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)| 864| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| Freedom People's Front| 841| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| United Peace Alliance| 822| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| Lanka Janatha Party| 759| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya| 659| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| Liberal Democratic Party (Sri Lanka)| 635| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| New Lanka Freedom Party| 601| 0.01| 0| 0| 0
| Nava Sama Samaja Party| 491| 0.00| 0| 0| 0
| Akhila Ilankai Tamil Mahasabha| 450| 0.00| 0| 0| 0
| Democratic Party (Sri Lanka)| 283| 0.00| 0| 0| 0
| Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya| 269| 0.00| 0| 0| 0
| Independents| 245,458| 2.20| 0| 0| 0
Total| 11,148,006| 100.00| 196| 29| 225

## See also

[edit]

* Electoral calendar
* Electoral system

## Notes

[edit]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "IFES Election Guide | Elections: Sri Lanka Pres Jan 2010". www.electionguide.org. Retrieved 2023-12-21.

## External links

[edit]

* Department of Elections
* Adam Carr's Election Archive
* www.Srilankanelections.com[usurped] \- A website featuring Sri Lankan elections and results.

* v
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Elections and referendums in Sri Lanka

Presidential|

* 1982
* 1988
* 1994
* 1999
* 2005
* 2010
* 2015
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* 2024

Parliamentary|

* 1911
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Provincial|

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Local|

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Referendums|

* 1982

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Elections and referendums in Sri Lanka

Presidential|

* 1982
* 1988
* 1994
* 1999
* 2005
* 2010
* 2015
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* 2024

Parliamentary|

* 1911
* 1917
* 1921
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* 1989
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Local|

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