 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 81.06% | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||
 Results by polling division | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
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 re-elected, receiving 53% of all valid votes cast, defeating his main opponent Hector Kobbekaduwa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. [1] [2]
After winning a landslide victory in the 1977 parliamentary elections, prime minister J. R. Jayawardene introduced the Executive Presidency through the 1978 constitutional reforms. Consequently, prime minister J. R. Jayawardene was inaugurated as the first executive president of Sri Lanka on 4 February 1978.
Under the Provisions of the Constitution, the president was elected to a six-year term and can call for an early presidential election after completing four years of their first term. When president Jayawardene's first four years of his first term concluded on 4 February 1978, he decided to call an early presidential election and sought reelection for a second term.
Nominations were accepted on 17 September 1982 and voter turnout was 81.06%. The election was described as a fight between capitalism and socialism: 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 president Jayewardene. [3]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J. R. Jayewardene | United National Party | 3,450,811 | 52.91 | |
| Hector Kobbekaduwa | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 2,548,438 | 39.07 | |
| Rohana Wijeweera | Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna | 273,428 | 4.19 | |
| Kumar Ponnambalam | All Ceylon Tamil Congress | 173,934 | 2.67 | |
| Colvin R. de Silva | Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 58,531 | 0.90 | |
| Vasudeva Nanayakkara | Nava Sama Samaja Party | 17,005 | 0.26 | |
| Total | 6,522,147 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 6,522,147 | 98.78 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 80,470 | 1.22 | ||
| Total votes | 6,602,617 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 8,145,015 | 81.06 | ||
| Source: Election Commission | ||||
| Districts won by Jayewardene |
| Districts won by Ponnambalam |
| Electoral District | Province | Jayewardene | Kobbekaduwa | Others | Total Valid | Rejected votes | Total Polled | Registered Electors | Turnout | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||||
| Ampara | Eastern | 90,772 | 56.39% | 53,096 | 32.99% | 17,102 | 10.62% | 160,970 | 2,101 | 163,071 | 204,268 | 79.83% |
| Anuradhapura | North Central | 117,873 | 49.84% | 102,973 | 43.54% | 15,677 | 6.63% | 236,523 | 2,294 | 238,817 | 278,594 | 85.72% |
| Badulla | Uva | 141,062 | 58.67% | 88,462 | 36.79% | 10,916 | 4.54% | 240,440 | 2,982 | 243,422 | 280,187 | 86.88% |
| Batticaloa | Eastern | 48,094 | 40.05% | 21,688 | 18.06% | 50,294 | 41.89% | 120,076 | 2,879 | 122,955 | 172,480 | 71.29% |
| Colombo | Western | 436,290 | 57.71% | 276,476 | 36.57% | 43,265 | 5.72% | 756,031 | 7,990 | 764,021 | 972,196 | 78.59% |
| Galle | Southern | 211,544 | 50.23% | 180,925 | 42.96% | 28,669 | 6.81% | 421,138 | 5,198 | 426,336 | 512,489 | 83.19% |
| Gampaha | Western | 365,838 | 52.50% | 301,808 | 43.31% | 29,192 | 4.19% | 696,838 | 5,992 | 702,830 | 835,265 | 84.14% |
| Hambantota | Southern | 90,545 | 45.90% | 76,402 | 38.73% | 30,331 | 15.37% | 197,278 | 1,804 | 199,082 | 241,956 | 82.28% |
| Jaffna | Northern | 44,780 | 20.54% | 77,300 | 35.46% | 95,923 | 44.00% | 218,003 | 10,610 | 228,613 | 493,705 | 46.31% |
| Kalutara | Western | 211,592 | 50.15% | 185,874 | 44.06% | 24,426 | 5.79% | 421,892 | 5,290 | 427,182 | 499,215 | 85.57% |
| Kandy | Central | 289,621 | 59.80% | 178,647 | 36.89% | 16,029 | 3.31% | 484,297 | 4,548 | 488,845 | 564,767 | 86.56% |
| Kegalle | Sabaragamuwa | 195,444 | 57.02% | 126,538 | 36.92% | 20,780 | 6.06% | 342,762 | 4,537 | 347,299 | 406,548 | 85.43% |
| Kurunegala | North Western | 345,769 | 55.77% | 248,479 | 40.08% | 25,730 | 4.15% | 619,978 | 5,431 | 625,409 | 717,505 | 87.16% |
| Matale | Central | 94,031 | 58.11% | 59,299 | 36.65% | 8,484 | 5.24% | 161,814 | 1,414 | 163,228 | 187,276 | 87.16% |
| Matara | Southern | 164,725 | 49.32% | 144,587 | 43.29% | 24,671 | 7.39% | 333,983 | 3,091 | 337,074 | 399,888 | 84.29% |
| Monaragala | Uva | 51,264 | 49.38% | 44,115 | 42.49% | 8,442 | 8.13% | 103,821 | 1,553 | 105,374 | 126,558 | 83.26% |
| Nuwara Eliya | Central | 109,017 | 63.10% | 57,093 | 33.05% | 6,659 | 3.85% | 172,769 | 2,048 | 174,817 | 201,878 | 86.60% |
| Polonnaruwa | North Central | 59,414 | 56.26% | 37,243 | 35.26% | 8,958 | 8.48% | 105,615 | 1,064 | 106,679 | 127,624 | 83.59% |
| Puttalam | North Western | 128,877 | 59.12% | 80,006 | 36.70% | 9,097 | 4.17% | 217,980 | 1,995 | 219,975 | 267,675 | 82.18% |
| Ratnapura | Sabaragamuwa | 175,903 | 50.90% | 152,506 | 44.13% | 17,195 | 4.98% | 345,604 | 3,407 | 349,011 | 402,202 | 86.78% |
| Trincomalee | Eastern | 45,522 | 48.64% | 31,700 | 33.87% | 16,374 | 17.49% | 93,596 | 1,795 | 95,391 | 133,646 | 71.38% |
| Vanni | Northern | 32,834 | 46.42% | 23,221 | 32.83% | 14,684 | 20.76% | 70,739 | 2,447 | 73,186 | 119,093 | 61.45% |
| Total | 3,450,811 | 52.91% | 2,548,438 | 39.07% | 522,898 | 8.02% | 6,522,147 | 80,470 | 6,602,617 | 8,145,015 | 81.06% | |
Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 until his assassination in 1993. He also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 6 February 1978 to 2 January 1989. This makes Premadasa the longest-serving uninterrupted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, having served in the post for nearly 11 years. He was the first person to be conferred with Sri Lanka's highest civilian award, the Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President J. R. Jayewardene.
The president of Sri Lanka is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union government and the commander-in-chief of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, in addition to their relation with the Prime minister and Government of Sri Lanka, have over time differed with the various constitutional documents since the creation of the office. The president appoints the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka who can command the confidence of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the world's first female prime minister when she became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. She chaired the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from 1960 to 1994 and served three terms as prime minister, two times as the chief executive, from 1960 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1977, and once again in a presidential system from 1994 to 2000, governing under the presidency of her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they wanted to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two-round system for single-winner elections, such as a presidential election, and proportional representation for the election of a legislature or executive.
Junius Richard Jayewardene, commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the second President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon and served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence. A longtime member of the United National Party, he led the party to a landslide victory in the 1977 parliamentary elections and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country's first executive president under an amended constitution.
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. As of October 2022 it has been formally amended 21 times.
Legislative elections were held in France on 16 March 1986 to elect the eighth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of party-list proportional representation.
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 19 December 1988. Nominations were accepted on 10 November 1988. Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa of the governing United National Party was elected, receiving 50.4% of all votes cast and defeating both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate, former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya candidate, Ossie Abeygunasekera.
Ranjith Kanishka Parakrama Atapattu was a Sri Lankan physician and politician.
The 1987 grenade attack in the Sri Lankan Parliament is an attack that took place on August 18, 1987, when an assailant hurled two grenades into a room where the Sri Lankan president, prime minister and Member of Parliament members of parliament were meeting. The grenades bounced off the table at which president J. R. Jayawardene and prime minister Ranasinghe Premadasa were sitting, and rolled away. A member of parliament and a ministry secretary were killed by the explosions.
The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic.
Ronald Joseph Godfrey de Mel was a Sri Lankan civil servant and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance under President J. R. Jayewardene's government from 1977 to 1988 and was instrumental in the establishment of the free market economy in Sri Lanka. He was also the longest serving finance minister of Sri Lanka. De Mel served as a Member of Parliament on multiple occasions, first from the Devinuwara District from 1970 to 1989, then from the Matara District from 1994 to 2000, and finally as a National list member of Parliament from 2000 to 2004. He also served as a Senior Adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Although he was a self-described socialist, de Mel has been credited with introducing capitalism and capitalist reforms to Sri Lanka's economy. He left a lasting mark on Sri Lanka's economy and political life, as recognized by national leaders at his funeral.
A referendum on extending the term of parliament by six years was held in Sri Lanka on 22 December 1982. It was the first and so far only national referendum to be held in the country. The referendum was called for by President J. R. Jayawardene, who had been elected to a fresh six-year term as President in October 1982. With the life of the current parliament due to expire in August 1983, Jayawardene faced the possibility of his ruling United National Party losing its massive supermajority in parliament if regular general elections were held. He therefore proposed a referendum to extend the life of parliament, with its constituents unchanged, thereby permitting the United National Party to maintain its supermajority.
The Jayewardene cabinet was the central government of Sri Lanka led by Prime Minister J. R. Jayewardene between 1977 and 1989. It was formed in July 1977 after the parliamentary election and it ended in January 1989 when Jayewardene's second limited term ended. The Jayewardene cabinet saw Sri Lanka move from being a parliamentary republic to the current executive presidency in February 1978.
Hector Senarath Rajakaruna Bandara Kobbekaduwa was a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer. He was the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate in the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election and the Minister for Agriculture and Lands from 1970 to 1977. He is remembered for nationalizing privately owned land and restricting the ownership of private land to 20 hectares for the purpose of giving land to landless peasants. He created collectively owned settlement programs called Janawasas in some of the land that was acquired. He contested the 1982 presidential election and lost. The campaign of the SLFP led by him advocated for restoring previous Sri Lanka Freedom Party policies. His opponents ran an effective campaign criticising the closed economy & socialist policies of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led regime from 1970 to 1977; they blamed the SLFP policies for creating scarcities of essential goods and unemployment. Although the SLFP led by him lost the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election, he managed to gain a significant number of votes in Tamil-speaking areas like Point Pedro, defeating Tamil nationalist parties.
Alexander Fairlie Wijemanne was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He was a Minister of Justice as an elected member of the Senate of Ceylon and served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to FAO.
The 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 1977 parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977. The parliament met for the first time on 22 July 1977 and was dissolved on 8 March 1989.
The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015. The amendment envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978. It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978.
The following lists events that happened during 1982 in Sri Lanka.
J. R. Jayewardene Centre is an archive, library, and museum in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the official institute of the first executive President of Sri Lanka, Junius Richard Jayewardene. The centre is based on the United States model of Presidential libraries.
| Presidential | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary | |
| Provincial | |
| Local | |
| Referendums | |
