1994 Sri Lankan presidential election

1994 Sri Lankan presidential election

←  1993 9 November 1994 1999  →
Turnout	70.47% ( 15.15pp)
Nominee Chandrika Kumaratunga Srima Dissanayake Party SLFP UNP Alliance People's Alliance — Popular vote 4,709,205 2,715,283 Percentage 62.28% 35.91%
Results by polling division
President before election Dingiri Banda Wijetunga UNP Elected President Chandrika Kumaratunga SLFP

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 9 November 1994. This was the 3rd Presidential election held in the country's history, and the Nominations were accepted on 7 October 1994. Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga of the governing People's Alliance was elected as President, receiving 62% of the votes and becoming the first female President of Sri Lanka. It marked the end of the 17 year United National Party's rule in Sri Lanka, were they will be in opposition for 7 years until 2001.

Background

President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated on 1 May 1993 by the LTTE and was succeeded by Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga. Under the Constitution, a President who assumed office to fill a vacancy could not call an early presidential election. Consequently, the next presidential election was scheduled between 2 November and 2 December 1994. In August 1994, Wijetunga dissolved Parliament and called a snap general election. The People's Alliance, led by Chandrika Kumaratunga, won a parliamentary majority, and Kumaratunga was sworn in as Prime Minister on 19 August 1994. ^{[1] [2]}

Nominations

Nominations for the presidential election were accepted on 7 October 1994, and the election date was officially announced via Gazette Extraordinary No. 839/9 on 26 October 1994. ^[3]

United National Party

Hema Premadasa, the former First Lady, attempted to contest the presidency in 1994 but withdrew after facing organized political harassment and negative propaganda by opposition parties. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

President Wijetunga chose not to contest the election. The UNP initially selected Gamini Dissanayake as its candidate.

People's Alliance

The People's Alliance officially nominated Chandrika Kumaratunga as its presidential candidate.

Campaign

The campaign initially involved active competition between the UNP and the People's Alliance.

Assassination

On 24 October 1994, Gamini Dissanayake was killed in a suicide bombing carried out by the LTTE, which also caused civilian casualties. Following this event, security measures were heightened nationwide, and the UNP replaced him with his wife, Srima Dissanayake.

Security measures were heightened nationwide in response to the attack. ^{[7] [8]}

Results

Kumaratunga won the election by a record margin with 62.28% of the vote. ^[9]

She became the first female President of Sri Lanka and was inaugurated at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on 12 November 1994. ^[10]

Electoral Results

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Chandrika Kumaratunga	People's Alliance	4,709,205	62.28
	Srima Dissanayake	United National Party	2,715,283	35.91
	Hudson Samarasinghe	Independent	58,886	0.78
	Harischandra Wijayatunga	Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya	32,651	0.43
	A. J. Ranasinghe	Independent	22,752	0.30
	Nihal Galappaththi	Sri Lanka Progressive Front	22,749	0.30
Total			7,561,526	100.00
Valid votes			7,561,526	98.03
Invalid/blank votes			151,706	1.97
Total votes			7,713,232	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			10,945,065	70.47
Source: Election Commission

Popular vote (%)

Kumaratunga			62.28%
Dissanayake			35.91%

Geographical Share (%)

Kumaratunga			99.38%
Dissanayake			0.63%

Map

Results by polling division

References

1. "THIRD AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION". lankalaw.net. Retrieved 2025-11-09.
2. AP Archive (2015-07-21). Sri Lanka - New Prime Minister Sworn In . Retrieved 2025-11-09– via YouTube.
3. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). elections.gov.lk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2025-11-09.
4. De Mel, Neloufer (2002). Women & the Nation's Narrative: Gender and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century Sri Lanka. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 246. ISBN   9780742518070.
5. "Premadasa's Widow Indicates She May Seek Political Office". Santa Ana Orange County Register. 7 May 1993. Retrieved 7 February 2016– via Newspaper Archive.
6. "Why Lankan Women Shun Politics". Hindustan Times. 13 March 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016– via HighBeam Research.
7. "Sri Lanka election aftermath". UPI. 24 October 1994.
8. "Assassination of Gamini Dissanayake" . Retrieved 2025-11-09.
9. "Results of past presidential elections in Sri Lanka" (PDF). People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
10. AP Archive (2015-07-21). SRI LANKA - NEW PRESIDENT SWORN IN . Retrieved 2025-11-09– via YouTube.

• "Result of Presidential Election 1994" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-04.
• "1994 Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. 20 October 2022.
• "1994 - Presidential Election". Manthree.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30.