2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

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2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
  2000 5 December 2001 2004  

All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka
113 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout76.03%
 First partySecond party
  Defense.gov News Photo 031103-D-2987S-069 (cropped).jpg Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga As The President of Sri Lanka.jpg
Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Chandrika Kumaratunga
Party UNF PA
Leader since19941994
Leader's seat Colombo District n/a
Last election40.22%, 89 seats45.11%, 107 seats
Seats won10977
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 20Decrease2.svg 30
Popular vote4,086,0263,330,815
Percentage45.62%37.19%
SwingIncrease2.svg 5.40%Decrease2.svg 7.92%

 Third partyFourth party
 
JVP
R. Sampanthan.jpg
Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe Rajavarothiam Sampanthan
Party JVP TNA
Leader since19902001
Leader's seatn/a Trincomalee District
Last election6.00%, 10 seatsDid not exist
Seats won1615
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 6New party
Popular vote815,353348,164
Percentage9.10%3.89%
SwingIncrease2.svg 3.10%New party

Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election 2001.png
Winners of polling divisions. UNF in green and PA in blue.

Prime Minister before election

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
People's Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Ranil Wickremesinghe
United National Front

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the previous elections in October 2000.

Contents

Background

The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition. President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition. A no-confidence motion was prepared; to forestall this, Kumaratunga called the election.

More than 1,300 incidents of election violence were reported during the campaign. [1] Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. Overall, 60 people were killed in election-related violence, including 14 on polling day. [2]

Parties

Results

The ruling People's Alliance lost the election, which saw the United National Front win the legislative power. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe became the new prime minister.

Having the President and Prime Minister belong to two different parties proved to be unstable, and Parliament was dissolved again in 2004, leading to yet another general election.

Sri Lanka Parliament 2001.svg
PartyVotes%Seats
DistrictNationalTotal
United National Front [a] 4,086,02645.629613109
People's Alliance [b] 3,330,81537.19661177
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 815,3539.1013316
Tamil National Alliance [c] 348,1643.8914115
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 105,3461.18415
Eelam People's Democratic Party 72,7830.81202
Sinhala Heritage50,6650.57000
New Left Front 45,9010.51000
Democratic People's Liberation Front 16,6690.19101
United Socialist Party 9,4550.11000
National Democratic Party6,9520.08000
Democratic Left Front 6,2140.07000
United Lalith Front3,8510.04000
Eksath Sinhala Maha Sabha2,7710.03000
Muslim United Liberation Front2,6440.03000
Motherland People's Party 1,6300.02000
Jathika Sangwardhena Peramuna1,6240.02000
Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna 1,3610.02000
Liberal Party 1,1520.01000
Ruhunu Janatha Party1,0890.01000
Democratic United National Front 9780.01000
Sri Lanka Progressive Front 8540.01000
Sri Lanka Muslim Katchi8020.01000
Sri Lanka National Front 7190.01000
Socialist Equality Party 2430.00000
Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya560.00000
Independents41,7520.47000
Total8,955,869100.0019629225
Valid votes8,955,86994.77
Invalid/blank votes493,9445.23
Total votes9,449,813100.00
Registered voters/turnout12,428,76276.03
Source: Election Commission

By province

By electoral district

Elected members

Notes

References