2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the previous elections in October 2000.

2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
5 December 2001
All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka
113 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout76.03%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Chandrika Kumaratunga Somawansa Amarasinghe
Party UNF PA JVP
Leader since 1994 1994 1990
Leader's seat Colombo District n/a n/a
Last election 40.22%, 89 seats 45.11%, 107 seats 6.00%, 10 seats
Seats won 109 77 16
Seat change Increase 20 Decrease 30 Increase 6
Popular vote 4,086,026 3,330,815 815,353
Percentage 45.62% 37.19% 9.10%
Swing Increase5.40% Decrease7.92% Increase 3.10%
Winners of polling divisions. UNF in green and PA in blue.
Prime Minister before election

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
People's Alliance

 Prime Minister-designate

Ranil Wickremesinghe
United National Front

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Background

The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition. President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition. A no-confidence motion was prepared; to forestall this, Kumaratunga called the election.

More than 1,300 incidents of election violence were reported during the campaign. . Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. Overall, 60 people were killed in election-related violence, including 14 on polling day.

Parties

Results

The ruling People's Alliance lost the election, which saw the United National Front win the legislative power. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe became the new prime minister.

Having the President and Prime Minister belong to two different parties proved to be unstable, and Parliament was dissolved again in 2004, leading to yet another general election.

PartyVotes%Seats
DistrictNationalTotal
United National Front[lower-alpha 1]4,086,02645.629613109
People's Alliance[lower-alpha 2]3,330,81537.19661177
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna815,3539.1013316
Tamil National Alliance[lower-alpha 3]348,1643.8914115
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress105,3461.18415
Eelam People's Democratic Party72,7830.81202
Sinhala Heritage50,6650.57000
New Left Front45,9010.51000
Democratic People's Liberation Front16,6690.19101
United Socialist Party9,4550.11000
National Democratic Party6,9520.08000
Democratic Left Front6,2140.07000
United Lalith Front3,8510.04000
Eksath Sinhala Maha Sabha2,7710.03000
Muslim United Liberation Front2,6440.03000
Motherland People's Party1,6300.02000
Jathika Sangwardhena Peramuna1,6240.02000
Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna1,3610.02000
Liberal Party1,1520.01000
Ruhunu Janatha Party1,0890.01000
Democratic United National Front9780.01000
Sri Lanka Progressive Front8540.01000
Sri Lanka Muslim Katchi8020.01000
Sri Lanka National Front7190.01000
Socialist Equality Party2430.00000
Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya560.00000
Independents41,7520.47000
Total8,955,869100.0019629225
Valid votes8,955,86994.77
Invalid/blank votes493,9445.23
Total votes9,449,813100.00
Registered voters/turnout12,428,76276.03
Source: Election Commission

By province
Main article: Results of the 2001 Sri Lankan general election by province

By electoral district
Main article: Results of the 2001 Sri Lankan general election by electoral district

Elected members
Main article: 12th Sri Lankan Parliament

Notes
  1. Contested under the name and symbol of the United National Party. Also consisted of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, the Democratic People's Front, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (except in Ampara, Batticaloa and Jaffna, where it ran alone), the United National Party and the Up-Country People's Front.
  2. Consisting of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, the*National Unity Alliance, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya.
  3. Contested under the name and symbol of Tamil United Liberation Front. Also consisted of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization.

References
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