1982 Sri Lankan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka for the first time on 20 October 1982. Incumbent president J. R. Jayewardene of the governing United National Party was elected, receiving 53% of all votes cast.[1][2]

1982 Sri Lankan presidential election

20 October 1982
Turnout81.06%
 
Nominee J. R. Jayewardene Hector Kobbekaduwa
Party UNP SLFP
Popular vote 3,450,811 2,548,438
Percentage 52.91% 39.07%

Winners of polling divisions. Jayewardene in green and Kobbekaduwa in blue.

President before election

J. R. Jayewardene
UNP

Elected President

J. R. Jayewardene
UNP

Nominations were accepted on 17 September 1982 and electoral participation was 81.06%. The election was described as a fight between capitalism and socialism: Hector Kobbekaduwa, who advocated to carry on the policies of the previous SLFP-led regime of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was expected to undo most of the open market and capitalist reforms brought in by J. R. Jayewardene.[3]

Although the SLFP lost, they managed to win a significant number of votes in Tamil-speaking areas in the north.[4]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
J. R. JayewardeneUnited National Party3,450,81152.91
Hector KobbekaduwaSri Lanka Freedom Party2,548,43839.07
Rohana WijeweeraJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna273,4284.19
Kumar PonnambalamAll Ceylon Tamil Congress173,9342.67
Colvin R. de SilvaLanka Sama Samaja Party58,5310.90
Vasudeva NanayakkaraNava Sama Samaja Party17,0050.26
Total6,522,147100.00
Valid votes6,522,14798.78
Invalid/blank votes80,4701.22
Total votes6,602,617100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,145,01581.06
Source: Election Commission

District

Districts won by Jayewardene
Districts won by Ponnambalam
Summary of the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election by electoral district[5]
Electoral
District
ProvinceJayewardeneKobbekaduwaOthersTotal
Valid
Rejected
Votes
Total
Polled
Registered
Electors
Turnout
Votes%Votes%Votes%
AmparaEastern90,77256.39%53,09632.99%17,10210.62%160,9702,101163,071204,26879.83%
AnuradhapuraNorth Central117,87349.84%102,97343.54%15,6776.63%236,5232,294238,817278,59485.72%
BadullaUva141,06258.67%88,46236.79%10,9164.54%240,4402,982243,422280,18786.88%
BatticaloaEastern48,09440.05%21,68818.06%50,29441.89%120,0762,879122,955172,48071.29%
ColomboWestern436,29057.71%276,47636.57%43,2655.72%756,0317,990764,021972,19678.59%
GalleSouthern211,54450.23%180,92542.96%28,6696.81%421,1385,198426,336512,48983.19%
GampahaWestern365,83852.50%301,80843.31%29,1924.19%696,8385,992702,830835,26584.14%
HambantotaSouthern90,54545.90%76,40238.73%30,33115.37%197,2781,804199,082241,95682.28%
JaffnaNorthern44,78020.54%77,30035.46%95,92344.00%218,00310,610228,613493,70546.31%
KalutaraWestern211,59250.15%185,87444.06%24,4265.79%421,8925,290427,182499,21585.57%
KandyCentral289,62159.80%178,64736.89%16,0293.31%484,2974,548488,845564,76786.56%
KegalleSabaragamuwa195,44457.02%126,53836.92%20,7806.06%342,7624,537347,299406,54885.43%
KurunegalaNorth Western345,76955.77%248,47940.08%25,7304.15%619,9785,431625,409717,50587.16%
MataleCentral94,03158.11%59,29936.65%8,4845.24%161,8141,414163,228187,27687.16%
MataraSouthern164,72549.32%144,58743.29%24,6717.39%333,9833,091337,074399,88884.29%
MonaragalaUva51,26449.38%44,11542.49%8,4428.13%103,8211,553105,374126,55883.26%
Nuwara EliyaCentral109,01763.10%57,09333.05%6,6593.85%172,7692,048174,817201,87886.60%
PolonnaruwaNorth Central59,41456.26%37,24335.26%8,9588.48%105,6151,064106,679127,62483.59%
PuttalamNorth Western128,87759.12%80,00636.70%9,0974.17%217,9801,995219,975267,67582.18%
RatnapuraSabaragamuwa175,90350.90%152,50644.13%17,1954.98%345,6043,407349,011402,20286.78%
TrincomaleeEastern45,52248.64%31,70033.87%16,37417.49%93,5961,79595,391133,64671.38%
VanniNorthern32,83446.42%23,22132.83%14,68420.76%70,7392,44773,186119,09361.45%
Total3,450,81152.91%2,548,43839.07%522,8988.02%6,522,14780,4706,602,6178,145,01581.06%

References

  1. Selbourne, David (1983). "The Sri Lankan elections, Oct.–Dec. 1982". Electoral Studies. 2 (2): 175–177. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(83)90062-8. ISSN 0261-3794.
  2. Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A. (1983). "Sri Lanka in 1982: A Year of Elections". Asian Survey. 23 (2): 158–164. doi:10.2307/2644347. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2644347.
  3. Stevens, William K. (20 October 1982). "Election in Sri Lanka Capitalism Versus Socialism". The New York Times.
  4. "Features | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers".
  5. "Presidential Election – 20.10.1982: All Island Results - By Electoral Districts" (PDF). Colombo, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
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