1999 Sri Lankan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 December 1999. Nominations were accepted on 16 November 1999 and electoral participation was 73.31%. Incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga of the governing People's Alliance was re-elected for a second term, receiving 51% of all votes cast.

1999 Sri Lankan presidential election
21 December 1999
Turnout73.31%
 
Nominee Chandrika Kumaratunga Ranil Wickremesinghe
Party SLFP UNP
Alliance People's Alliance —
Popular vote 4,312,157 3,602,748
Percentage 51.12% 42.71%
Winners of polling divisions. Kumaratunga in blue and Wickremasinghe in green.
President before election

Chandrika Kumaratunga
SLFP

 Elected President

Chandrika Kumaratunga
SLFP

Background

Sri Lankan presidents are elected for six-year terms; with the previous election having taken place in 1994, an election normally would not have been held until 2000. Kumaratunga called the election early.

Kumaratunga campaigned to continue her actions against the Tamil Tigers, while her main opponent Ranil Wickremasinghe called for the commencement of direct negotiations with the Tigers.

Three days before the election, Kumaratunga was nearly killed by a Tamil Tiger assassination attempt at her final rally. She lost her right eye, and appeared heavily bandaged on television before the election.

Results
CandidatePartyVotes%
Chandrika KumaratungaPeople's Alliance4,312,15751.12
Ranil WickremasingheUnited National Party3,602,74842.71
Nandana GunathilakeJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna344,1734.08
Harischandra WijayatungaSinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya35,8540.43
W. V. M. RanjithIndependent27,0520.32
Rajiva WijesinhaLiberal Party25,0850.30
Vasudeva NanayakkaraLeft & Democratic Alliance23,6680.28
Tennyson EdirisuriyaIndependent21,1190.25
Abdul RasoolSri Lanka Muslim Party17,3590.21
Kamal KarunadasaPeople's Liberation Solidarity Front11,3330.13
Hudson SamarasingheIndependent7,1840.09
Ariyawansa DissanayakaDemocratic United National Front4,0390.05
A. W. PremawardhanaBahujana Nidahas Peramuna3,9830.05
Total8,435,754100.00
Valid votes8,435,75497.69
Invalid/blank votes199,5362.31
Total votes8,635,290100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,779,20073.31
Source: Election Commission

References
    • "Result of Presidential Election 1999" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-04.
    • "1999 Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com.
    • "1999 - Presidential Election". Manthree.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-28.
    • "REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 22 DECEMBER 1999". Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive.
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