| |||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 99.11% | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
Sri Lankaportal |
An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 20 July 2022 following the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 14 July. The president of Sri Lanka was elected by the Parliament of Sri Lanka in a secret ballot to decide who would complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's term. [1] [2] Candidates were nominated in the Parliament on 19 July in advance of the election the following day. [3] [4]
Ranil Wickremesinghe won the election with 134 votes and was elected as the ninth President (eighth executive President) of Sri Lanka. [5] The election, which was held amid a political crisis, [6] was the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that a vote took place in Parliament to elect a President. [lower-alpha 1] [7]
According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office." [8] [9] Hence, following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 14 July, Parliament was charged with electing a replacement who would serve the remainder of Rajapaksa's term, which was supposed to end in November 2024. [10] The process was led by the Secretary General of Parliament. The Speaker of the Parliament also had a vote in the election. [9] The vote was held through a secret ballot. [11]
On 19 July, nominations for the presidency was called for in Parliament. [12] Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Leader Dinesh Gunawardena nominated Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister Manusha Nanayakkara seconded it. MP Vijitha Herath nominated Anura Kumara Dissanayake, seconded by MP Harini Amarasuriya. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa nominated Dullas Alahapperuma's name which was seconded by SLPP Chairman G. L. Peiris. [13] The Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake announced the names of the nominees for president. [14]
Parliament met at 10:00 (SLST) on 20 July to elect the president through a secret ballot. Each MP is entitled to only one vote and the vote should be marked with the number "1" in the box in front of the candidate's name with an option to mark preferences when there are multiple candidates. [9]
After voting, the number of votes recorded for each candidate is counted. If a candidate receives more than half of the valid votes cast, the returning officer, i.e. the Secretary General of the Parliament, immediately announces that the candidate has been elected to the presidency. If no candidate gets more than half of the valid votes cast, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated from the competition. If each MP who voted as first preference for the candidate removed from the competition has their second preference, they will be added to the respective candidate. Even if no candidate has received more than half of the valid votes, the candidate who received the fewest votes in each calculation is removed from the competition, and votes are added to the remaining candidates in the second, third, etc. Even after doing so, if no candidate has obtained half of the valid number of votes, the election officer will declare that the candidate who obtained the majority of votes at the end of the counting as above has been elected to the office of President. Also, when the votes are equal between two or more candidates, a draw will be made at the sole discretion of the Returning Officer. [15]
According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office." [8] The constitution requires for a successor to be elected within 30 days. [1]
Date | Day | Event |
---|---|---|
14 July 2022 | Thursday | Speaker receives a letter of resignation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa |
15 July 2022 | Friday | Confirmation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation. |
Speaker announces presidential election through Parliament within seven days. | ||
16 July 2022 | Saturday | Secretary General of Parliament officially informs the House that the office of President has fallen vacant. |
17 July 2022 | Sunday | |
18 July 2022 | Monday | Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe issues a state of emergency across the island. |
19 July 2022 | Tuesday | Nominations for the presidency were called for in Parliament. |
20 July 2022 | Wednesday | Parliament elected the new president by a secret ballot. |
21 July 2022 | Thursday | The President-elect took oaths as the new Head of State of Sri Lanka. |
Candidate | Political office and constituency | Date declared | Proposer/ seconder | Notes | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dullas Alahapperuma (63) Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | Holds no office Minister of Mass Media (2021–2022) Matara | 15 July 2022 | Sajith Premadasa G. L. Peiris | Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidacy and declared his support for Alahapperuma. [16] SLFP, TPA, TNA, ACMC, SLMC and a fraction of SLPP have decided to vote for Alahapperuma. | [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] | |
Ranil Wickremesinghe (73) United National Party | Acting President (15–21 July 2022) Prime Minister (12 May–21 July 2022) Leader of the United National Party (since 1994) National list | 16 July 2022 | Dinesh Gunawardena Manusha Nanayakkara | Fraction of SLPP including leader Dinesh Gunawardena, general-secretary Sagara Kariyawasam and SLPP Youth Wing declared their support for Wickremesinghe. [22] [23] [24] | [22] | |
Anura Kumara Dissanayake (53) National People's Power | Holds no office Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (since 2014) Colombo | 16 July 2022 | Vijitha Herath Harini Amarasuriya | [25] [26] |
Candidate | Political office and constituency | Date declared | Date Withdrawn | Notes | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sajith Premadasa (55) Samagi Jana Balawegaya | Leader of the Opposition (2020–present) Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (since 2020) Colombo | 15 July 2022 | 19 July 2022 | Endorsed Alahapperuma. | [27] [16] |
On 18 July, the Speaker of the Parliament requested police to conduct investigations on those who publish posts on social media networks threatening and exerting pressure to MPs regarding the voting in the presidential election, [34] and Police Headquarters gave instructions to the Computer Crimes Investigation Division to enforce the law against such people. [35]
After media reporting that some political parties have asked their MPs to take a photo of their ballot papers to check if they defied the party line, speaker and the secretary-general of the Parliament warned parliamentarians not to show their ballot papers to anybody else. The MPs were also barred from bringing their mobile phones to the ballot box. [36] It was further informed that any moves to force an MP to photograph their ballot will result in them being banned from sitting in Parliament for seven years. [37]
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ranil Wickremesinghe | United National Party | 134 | 61.19 | |
Dullas Alahapperuma | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 82 | 37.44 | |
Anura Kumara Dissanayake | National People's Power | 3 | 1.37 | |
Total | 219 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 219 | 98.21 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 4 | 1.79 | ||
Total votes | 223 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 225 | 99.11 |
Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eight executive President of Sri Lanka in the Parliament before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. After Wickremesinghe was declared the winner, it was widely expected that the 2022 Sri Lankan protests would resume, as protestors had been demanding his resignation as Prime Minister. [5] [38]
The day after his victory, Wickremesinghe appointed SLPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena as Prime Minister. Gunawardena and Wickremesinghe were classmates during school days. [39]
On 22 July, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Wickremesinghe on his election, stating that the country would "surely overcome temporary difficulties and push forward the process of economic and social recovery" under his leadership. [40]
Sri Lanka is a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who is the 9th and current President of Sri Lanka. He also holds several ministerial positions, including the Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.
The United National Party is a centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party, or as part of its governing coalition, for 38 of the country's 74 years of independence, including the periods 1947–1956, 1965–1970, 1977–1994, 2001–2004 and 2015–2019. The party also controlled the executive presidency from its formation in 1978 until 1994 and back in 2022.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
Dinesh Chandra Rupasinghe Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan politician serving as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 22 July 2022. He also holds the positions of Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government. Gunawardena has been leader of the left-wing Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) party since 1983, was briefly the de facto leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna from 2022 to 2023, and has taken cabinet positions under several previous governments, including Leader of the House from 2020 until 2022.
Dullas Daham Kumara Alahapperuma is a Sri Lankan politician and founder and current leader of the Freedom People's Congress. Alahapperuma is also a former Cabinet Minister of Information and Mass Media and a current Member of Parliament from the Matara District.
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, who is the constitutional chief executive. The Cabinet is collectively held accountable to parliament for their policies and actions.
The Sri Lanka People's Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. Previously a minor political party known as the Sri Lanka National Front (SLNF) and Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (OSLFF), it was relaunched in 2016 as the SLPP and became the home for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A constitutional crisis began in Sri Lanka when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president and member of parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 before formally dismissing the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, resulting in two concurrent Prime Ministers. Wickremesinghe and the United National Party (UNP) viewed the appointment as illegal, and he refused to resign.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters.
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 November 2019. The incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena's term of office would have ended on 9 January 2020. This was the first presidential election in Sri Lanka where no sitting president, prime minister or opposition leader ran for president.
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka is the current Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 5 years from the first meeting.
Mohamed Uvais Mohamed Ali Sabry, PC, MP, also known as Ali Sabry, is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the Current Minister of Foreign Affairs serving since 22 July 2022. He previously served as the Minister of Finance until 9 May 2022. He was a Member of Parliament, appointed from the national list of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He also served as the Minister of Justice until 9 May 2022. He served as the defense counsel of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, chief legal adviser and President of the Muslim Federation of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
The 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis was a political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka. It was fueled by the anti-government protests and demonstrations by the public due to the economic crisis in the country. The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered a state of political instability that is unprecedented in the nation's history.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka sometime between September and October 2024, according to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Voters will elect a president for a term of five years. Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe is eligible to run for re-election.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the 8th president of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022, initiated a self-imposed exile on 13 July 2022, following widespread protests led by civilians demanding his resignation, triggered by extensive discontent over his handling of the country's economic crisis.
The inauguration of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the 8th executive president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka took place on Thursday, 21 July 2022. This officially marked the beginning of Wickremesinghe's term in office, which will conclude in November 2024.
The Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya or Supreme Lanka Coalition is a political alliance in Sri Lanka formed in 2022. The coalition is made up of seven Sri Lankan leftist and nationalist parties who were formerly part of the SLPP-led Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance, before defecting to the opposition amidst the 2022 economic crisis and political crisis. The first conference of the alliance was held on 4 September, 2022. Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) and former cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa is the chairman of the Supreme Lanka Coalition. The alliance has 15 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
The Freedom People's Congress is a political party in Sri Lanka founded by Dullas Alahapperuma, G. L. Peiris and several other former Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna MPs in 2022.
Local elections have not been held in Sri Lanka since 2018. Elections were originally scheduled to be held in 2022, but were postponed to 2023 due to the worsening economic crisis and instability in the country, before being postponed again several times by the government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Currently, there is no official date scheduled for the elections.