Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1965

Last updated
6th Ceylonese parliamentary election
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
←  1960 (July) 22 March 1965 1970  →
151 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon
76 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Dudley Shelton Senanayaka As The Prime Minister of Ceylon.jpg Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranayaka (1916-2000) (Hon.Sirimavo Bandaranaike with Hon.Lalith Athulathmudali Crop).jpg
Leader Dudley Senanayake Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Party United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Leader since19571960
Leader's seat Dedigama Attanagalla
Last election30 Seats, 37.19%75 Seats, 33.22%
Seats won6641
Seat changeIncrease2.svg36Decrease2.svg34
Popular vote1,590,9291,221,437
Percentage39.31%30.18%
Prime Minister before election

Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sri Lanka Freedom Party

Prime Minister-designate

Dudley Senanayake
United National Party

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in March 1965.

Sri Lanka Island country in South Asia

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent, but is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.

Contents

Background

The SLFP government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike lost its majority in December 1964 when some MPs deserted it over the nationalization of Lakehouse Newspapers.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party Political party in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major and most well known political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by S.W.R.D Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the predominant party in government on a number of occasions. The party is generally considered as having a democratic socialist or progressive economic agenda and is often associated with nationalist Sinhala parties. The party follows a Non-Aligned foreign policy but always had close ties to socialist nations.The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is a main constituent party in the United People's Freedom Alliance.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sri Lankan politician

Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan stateswoman. She became the world's first non-hereditary female head of government in modern history, when she was elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. She served three terms: 1960–1965, 1970–1977 and 1994–2000.

Nationalization is the process of transforming private assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets or assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being transferred to the state. The opposites of nationalization are privatization and demutualization. When previously nationalized assets are privatized and subsequently returned to public ownership at a later stage, they are said to have undergone renationalization. Industries that are usually subject to nationalization include transport, communications, energy, banking, and natural resources.

Bandaranaike's program of extensive nationalization had alarmed many of the island's business interests, which rallied to the United National Party. The economy had been stagnant, and rationing had been imposed in the face of persistent food shortages.

United National Party Political party in Sri Lanka

The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP, is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main ruling party in the government of Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP is considered to have right-leaning, pro-capitalist, and liberal conservative policies.

Rationing controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services

Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. There are many forms of rationing, and in western civilization people experience some of them in daily life without realizing it.

The UNP promised to form a National Front government to oppose the SLFP and its Marxist allies. UNP leader Dudley Senanayake promised cabinet posts both to the small Sinhala nationalist parties and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party).

Dudley Senanayake Sri Lankan politician

Dudley Shelton Senanayake 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1952 to 1953, in 1960 and from 1965 to 1970 and Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. Senanayake's tenures as prime minister were associated with democratic socialist policies focused on agricultural and educational reforms with a pro-western alignment.

Sinhalese people ethnic group

The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan-speaking ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, historical heritage and religion. The Sinhalese people speak the Sinhalese language, an Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a small percentage of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity. The Sinhalese are mostly found in North Central, Central, South, and West Sri Lanka. According to the 5th century epic poem Mahavamsa, and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese are descendants of settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura, in India, led by Prince Vijaya.

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority in the country. It was originally formed in 1949 as breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972 ITAK merged with the ACTC and Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) to form the Tamil United Front, which later changed its name to Tamil United Liberation Front. ITAK remained dormant until 2004 when a split in the TULF resulted in ITAK being re-established as an active political party. ITAK is constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance.

Results

The UNP did not obtain a majority, but was able to govern as a National Front with the ITAK's support.

e  •  d  Summary of the 1965 Ceylonese parliamentary election [1]
PartyCandidatesVotes%Seats
  United National Party 1161,590,92939.31%66
  Sri Lanka Freedom Party 1011,221,43730.18%41
  Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 20217,9145.38%14
  Lanka Sama Samaja Party 25302,0957.47%10
  Sri Lanka Freedom Socialist Party 32130,4293.22%5
  Communist Party of Ceylon 9109,7542.71%4
  All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1598,7462.44%3
  Mahajana Eksath Peramuna 6196,6652.39%1
 National Liberation Front1018,7910.46%1
Others106259,9606.42%6
Valid Votes4954,046,720100.00%151
Rejected Votes
Total Votes Polled
Total Electors Polled [lower-alpha 1] 3,821,918
Registered Electors4,710,887
Turnout [lower-alpha 2] 81.13%

Notes

  1. ↑ Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.
  2. ↑ Actual turnout was slightly higher due to J. R. Jayewardene (UNP) and Bernard Soysa (LSSP) being elected from Colombo South Electoral District without a contest.

Related Research Articles

The United National Front(UNF) later the United National Front for Good Governance(UNFGG) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka formed by the United National Party, the alliance currently represents 7 parties including the largest Muslim party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Sinhala Nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya. The UNF is current governing party in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. A new UNP led alliance, the National Democratic Front (NDF) is in the process of being formed for future elections.

1947 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon from 23 August to 20 September 1947. It was the first election overseen and administered by the newly-formed Department of Parliamentary Elections.

G. G. Ponnambalam Sri Lankan Tamil politician

Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and cabinet minister. He was the founder and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), first political party to represent the Ceylon Tamils.

1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

The 1977 Sri Lankan election heralded the beginning of a new period of Sri Lanka's history - a period of unprecedented violence.

1970 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon in 1970.

1956 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon in 1956. They were a watershed in the country's political history, and was the first elections fought to challenge the ruling United National Party. The former Leader of the House, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who was passed over after the death of the first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, crossed over to the opposition to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to launch his bid for Prime Minister.

1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon in 1952. It is notable for being the second and final election overseen and administered by the Department of Parliamentary Elections before its merger in 1955.

March 1960 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon on 19 March 1960.

July 1960 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon in July 1960.

The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact was an agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and the leader of the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka S. J. V. Chelvanayakam on July 26, 1957. It advocated the creation of a series of regional councils in Sri Lanka as a means to giving a certain level of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time.

A. P. Jayasuriya Sri Lankan politician

Alexander Perera Jayasuriya was Ceylonese politician. He was a former Minister of Health, Senator & Member of Parliament. He was one of the founders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

1982 Sri Lankan national referendum

The 1982 Sri Lankan national referendum took place on December 22, 1982, giving the people of Sri Lanka the option to extend the life of parliament by 6 years. It was the first and so far only national referendum to be held in Sri Lanka. 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 two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Chinnaiah Arulampalam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament.

Arumugam Thiagarajah was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

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 United National Party won a 5/6 majority to form a government under J.R. Jayewardene. later Mr Jayawardane introduce a new constitution to Sri Lanka and was elected the 1st President of Sri Lanka. The government extended their term to stay in power in 1983 with out an election and stayed in power until 1989. The 1982 Sri Lankan national referendum took place on December 22, 1982, giving the people of Sri Lanka the option to extend the life of parliament by 6 years. It was the first and so far only national referendum to be held in Sri Lanka.[1] 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,

Shelton Ranaraja Sri Lankan politician

Shelton Ranaraja was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and deputy minister.

References

  1. ↑ "Table 36 Parliament Election (1965)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.