1947 Ceylonese parliamentary election

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1947 Ceylonese parliamentary election
Flag of Ceylon (1875-1948).svg
  1936 23 August–20 September 1947 1952  

95 seats in the House of Representatives of Ceylon
48 seats were needed for a majority
TurnoutIncrease2.svg61.3%
 First partySecond party
  Official Photographic Portrait of Don Stephen Senanayaka (1884-1952).jpg 3x4.svg
Leader D. S. Senanayake N. M. Perera
Party UNP LSSP
Leader since19461945
Leader's seat Mirigama Ruwanwella
Seats won4210
Popular vote751,432204,020
Percentage39.81%10.81%

 Third partyFourth party
  3x4.svg 3x4.svg
Leader G. G. Ponnambalam Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
Party All Ceylon Tamil Congress Ceylon Indian Congress
Leader since19441939
Leader's seat Jaffna Nuwara Eliya
Seats won76
Popular vote82,49972,230
Percentage4.37%3.83%

Prime Minister before election

Position established

Prime Minister after election

D. S. Senanayake
UNP

Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon between 23 August and 20 September 1947. They were the first elections overseen and administered by the newly formed Department of Parliamentary Elections. [1]

Contents

Background

This is considered the first national election held in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). Although it took place before independence was actually granted, it was the first election under the Soulbury Constitution.

Some of the major figures who had led the independence struggle were found in the right-wing United National Party led by D.S. Senanayake. In opposition were the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Bolshevik Leninist Party of India, the Communist Party of Ceylon, the Ceylon Indian Congress and an array of independents.

Results

Senanayake's UNP fell short of a majority, but was able to form a government in coalition with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, which had taken most of the seats in the Tamil-majority regions of the island.

Sri Lanka obtained full independence as a dominion in 1948. The British nevertheless retained military bases in the country and English remained as the official language along with much of the administrative system put in place by the British along with British officials.

PartyVotes%Seats
United National Party 751,43239.8142
Lanka Sama Samaja Party 204,02010.8110
BSPBLP 113,1936.005
All Ceylon Tamil Congress 82,4994.377
Ceylon Indian Congress 72,2303.836
Communist Party of Ceylon 70,3313.733
Ceylon Labour Party 38,9322.061
United Lanka Congress 3,9530.210
Swaraj Party1,3930.070
Independents549,38129.1121
Total1,887,364100.0095
Total votes1,701,150
Registered voters/turnout3,048,14555.81
Source: Nohlen et al. [2] [lower-alpha 1]

Notes

  1. Actual turnout was slightly higher due to H. S. Ismail (UNP) being elected from Puttalam Electoral District without a contest.

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References

  1. "Elections Department in the limelight". ft.lk. Daily Financial Times. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, pp709–722 ISBN   0-19-924958-X