2022 Sri Lankan presidential election

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 20 July 2022 following the resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 14 July. The president of Sri Lanka was elected by the Parliament of Sri Lanka in a secret ballot to decide who would complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's term.[1][2] Candidates were nominated in the Parliament on 19 July in advance of the election the following day.[3][4]

2022 Sri Lankan presidential election
20 July 2022
Turnout99.11%
 
Candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe Dullas Alahapperuma
Party UNP SLPP
Alliance
List
List
Electoral vote 134 82
Percentage 61.19% 37.44%
President before election

Ranil Wickremesinghe (acting)
UNP

 Elected President

Ranil Wickremesinghe
UNP

Politics of Sri Lanka
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Ranil Wickremesinghe won the election with 134 votes and was elected as the ninth President (eighth executive President) of Sri Lanka.[5] The election, which was held amid a political crisis,[6] was the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that a vote took place in Parliament to elect a President.[lower-alpha 1][7]

Procedure

According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office."[8][9] Hence, following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 14 July, Parliament was charged with electing a replacement who would serve the remainder of Rajapaksa's term, which was supposed to end in November 2024.[10] The process was led by the Secretary General of Parliament. The Speaker of the Parliament also had a vote in the election.[9] The vote was held through a secret ballot.[11]

Nominations

On 19 July, nominations for the presidency was called for in Parliament.[12] Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Leader Dinesh Gunawardena nominated Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister Manusha Nanayakkara seconded it. MP Vijitha Herath nominated Anura Kumara Dissanayake, seconded by MP Harini Amarasuriya. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa nominated Dullas Alahapperuma's name which was seconded by SLPP Chairman G. L. Peiris.[13] The Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake announced the names of the nominees for president.[14]

Voting

Parliament met at 10:00 (SLST) on 20 July to elect the president through a secret ballot. Each MP is entitled to only one vote and the vote should be marked with the number "1" in the box in front of the candidate's name with an option to mark preferences when there are multiple candidates.[9]

After voting, the number of votes recorded for each candidate is counted. If a candidate receives more than half of the valid votes cast, the returning officer, i.e. the Secretary General of the Parliament, immediately announces that the candidate has been elected to the presidency. If no candidate gets more than half of the valid votes cast, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated from the competition. If each MP who voted as first preference for the candidate removed from the competition has their second preference, they will be added to the respective candidate. Even if no candidate has received more than half of the valid votes, the candidate who received the fewest votes in each calculation is removed from the competition, and votes are added to the remaining candidates in the second, third, etc. Even after doing so, if no candidate has obtained half of the valid number of votes, the election officer will declare that the candidate who obtained the majority of votes at the end of the counting as above has been elected to the office of President. Also, when the votes are equal between two or more candidates, a draw will be made at the sole discretion of the Returning Officer.[15]

Election schedule

According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office."[8] The constitution requires for a successor to be elected within 30 days.[1]

Date Day Event
14 July 2022 Thursday Speaker receives a letter of resignation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa
15 July 2022 Friday Confirmation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation.
Speaker announces presidential election through Parliament within seven days.
16 July 2022 Saturday Secretary General of Parliament officially informs the House that the office of President has fallen vacant.
17 July 2022 Sunday
18 July 2022 Monday Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe issues a state of emergency across the island.
19 July 2022 Tuesday Nominations for the presidency were called for in Parliament.
20 July 2022 Wednesday Parliament elected the new president by a secret ballot.
21 July 2022 Thursday The President-elect took oaths as the new Head of State of Sri Lanka.

Candidates

Declared
Candidate Political office and constituency Date declared Proposer/
seconder		 Notes Ref.
Dullas Alahapperuma
Dullas Alahapperuma (63)
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna		 Holds no office
Minister of Mass Media
(2021–2022)
Matara		 15 July 2022 Sajith Premadasa
G. L. Peiris		 Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidacy and declared his support for Alahapperuma.[16] SLFP, TPA, TNA, ACMC, SLMC and a fraction of SLPP have decided to vote for Alahapperuma. [17][18][19][20][21]
Ranil Wickremesinghe
Ranil Wickremesinghe (73)
United National Party		 Acting President
(15–21 July 2022)
Prime Minister
(12 May–21 July 2022)
Leader of the United National Party
(since 1994)
National list		 16 July 2022 Dinesh Gunawardena
Manusha Nanayakkara		 Fraction of SLPP including leader Dinesh Gunawardena, general-secretary Sagara Kariyawasam and SLPP Youth Wing declared their support for Wickremesinghe.[22][23][24] [22]
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka (53)
National People's Power		 Holds no office
Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(since 2014)
Colombo		 16 July 2022 Vijitha Herath
Harini Amarasuriya		 [25][26]

Withdrawn
Candidate Political office and constituency Date declared Date Withdrawn Notes Ref.
Sajith Premadasa
Sajith Premadasa (55)
Samagi Jana Balawegaya		 Leader of the Opposition
(2020–present)
Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya
(since 2020)
Colombo		 15 July 2022 19 July 2022 Endorsed Alahapperuma. [27][16]

Declined

Not nominated

Conduct

On 18 July, the Speaker of the Parliament requested police to conduct investigations on those who publish posts on social media networks threatening and exerting pressure to MPs regarding the voting in the presidential election,[34] and Police Headquarters gave instructions to the Computer Crimes Investigation Division to enforce the law against such people.[35]

After media reporting that some political parties have asked their MPs to take a photo of their ballot papers to check if they defied the party line, speaker and the secretary-general of the Parliament warned parliamentarians not to show their ballot papers to anybody else. The MPs were also barred from bringing their mobile phones to the ballot box.[36] It was further informed that any moves to force an MP to photograph their ballot will result in them being banned from sitting in Parliament for seven years.[37]

Results
CandidatePartyVotes%
Ranil WickremesingheUnited National Party13461.19
Dullas AlahapperumaSri Lanka Podujana Peramuna8237.44
Anura Kumara DissanayakaNational People's Power31.37
Total219100.00
Valid votes21998.21
Invalid/blank votes41.79
Total votes223100.00
Registered voters/turnout22599.11

Aftermath

Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eight executive President of Sri Lanka in the Parliament before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. After Wickremesinghe was declared the winner, it was widely expected that the 2022 Sri Lankan protests would resume, as protestors had been demanding his resignation as Prime Minister.[5][38]

The day after his victory, Wickremesinghe appointed SLPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena as Prime Minister. Gunawardena and Wickremesinghe were classmates during school days.[39]

On 22 July, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Wickremesinghe on his election, stating that the country would "surely overcome temporary difficulties and push forward the process of economic and social recovery" under his leadership.[40]

See also

Notes
  1. There was one previous experience of electing a president by parliament in Sri Lanka in 1993, when following the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Dingiri Banda Wijetunga (Prime Minister at that time) was elected to serve the remainder of Premadasa's term unanimously, without a vote. This time, since there were three nominated candidates, a vote was held.[7]

References
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  2. "Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns after fleeing Sri Lanka". BBC News. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  3. Ondaatjie, Anusha; Sirimanne, Asantha (12 July 2022). "Sri Lanka Latest: Parliament to Elect New President July 20". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
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