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2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

Election

Field	Value
election_name	2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
country	Sri Lanka
type	parliamentary
previous_election	2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
previous_year	2001
outgoing_members	12th Parliament of Sri Lanka
next_election	2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
next_year	2010
elected_members	13th Parliament of Sri Lanka
seats_for_election	All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka
113 seats were needed for a majority
election_date	2 April 2004
turnout	75.96%
<!-- United People's Freedom Alliance -->	image1	Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga As The President of Sri Lanka.jpg
leader1	Chandrika Kumaratunga
leader_since1	1994
party1	United People's Freedom Alliance
leaders_seat1	n/a
last_election1	37.20%, 77 seats
seats1	105
seat_change1	12
popular_vote1	4,223,970
percentage1	45.60%
swing1	0.01%
<!-- United National Front -->	image2	File:Defense.gov News Photo 031103-D-2987S-069 (cropped).jpg
leader2	Ranil Wickremesinghe
leader_since2	1994
party2	United National Front (Sri Lanka)
leaders_seat2	Colombo District
last_election2	45.60%, 109 seats
seats2	82
seat_change2	27
popular_vote2	3,504,200
percentage2	37.83%
swing2	7.73%
map_image	Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election 2004.png
map_size	250px
map_caption	Winners of polling divisions. UPFA in blue and UNF in green.
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Prime Minister-designate
before_election	Ranil Wickremesinghe
after_election	Mahinda Rajapaksa
before_party	United National Front (Sri Lanka)
after_party	United People's Freedom Alliance

113 seats were needed for a majority

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only eighty two seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this was eight seats short of an absolute majority, the Alliance was able to form a government.

On 6 April, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed former Minister of Labour Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.

Parties

The United People's Freedom Alliance was formed as an alliance between President Kumaratunga's party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Other parties that belong to the People's Alliance, such as the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Democratic United National Front, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, later joined UPFA.

In the 2001 elections, the People's Alliance and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna had fought separately. Then the JVP won 9.1% of the vote and sixteen seats. At this election it is reported than as many as thirty nine JVP members won seats as UPFA candidates.

The runner-up in the election was the United National Front (UNF), the front led by the United National Party. In addition to the UNP, the UNF also had candidates from minor parties such as Ceylon Workers Congress.

Other parties winning seats were the Buddhist, Sinhala nationalist outfit Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the pro-LTTE alliance Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). The Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (the political wing of PLOTE) lost their parliamentary representation.

Campaign

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's UNF government had been in limbo since October 2003, when President Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency and took three key cabinet portfolios for her party. During the campaign, she argued that Wickremasinghe had been too soft on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and promised to take a harder line. The UNF, for its part, stressed the economic gains that had been made with the ceasefire and the need to find a negotiated solution to the civil war.

Voting

Polling booths opened at 07:00 local time and remained open until 16:00 (01:00 to 10:00 UTC). A total of 10,670 polling stations were installed to receive votes from 12.9 million eligible voters. Voter turnout was high, at around 75%.

The backdrop to polling day was tense, with continued guerrilla activity by Tamil Tiger separatists and five politically motivated murders in the run-up to the election. However, except for a slightly lower turnout in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and allegations of fraud in the North, the election was calm and orderly.

Sri Lanka's Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said that despite reported cases of electoral malpractice in certain polling stations in six electoral districts, there would be no fresh elections in these areas and the results issued by the Commission were final.

Results

The United People's Freedom Alliance vote and seat totals are compared with the combined People's Alliance and JVP vote and seat counts at the 2001 election.

By province

By electoral district

District	UNP	UPFA	Other
Votes
Colombo	441,841 (41.8%)
9 seats	414,688 (39.2%)
8 seats	JHU: 190,618 (18.0%)
3 seats	1,057,966
Gampaha	367,572 (37.1%)
6 seats	509,963 (51.5%)
9 seats	JHU: 102,516 (19.4%)
2 seats	990,002
Kaluthara	212,721 (37.8%)
3 seats	291,208 (51.7%)
6 seats	JHU: 56,615 (10.1)
1 seat	563,019
Kandy	313,859 (50.0%)
6 seats	268,131 (42.7%)
5 seats	JHU: 42,192 (6.7%)
1 seat	627,866
Matale	100,642 (45.7%)
2 seats	108,259 (49.2%)
3 seats	JHU: 8,819 (4.0%)	220,062
Nuwara-Eliya	176,971 (54.0%)
4 seats	82,945 (25.3%)
2 seats	JHU: 4,454 (1.4%)
Other: 63,239 (19.3%)
1 seat	327,609
Galle	209,399 (38.7%)
4 seats	306,385 (56.6%)
6 seats	JHU: 22,826 (4.2%)	541,511
Matara	139,633 (34.9%)
3 seats	241,235 (60.3%)
5 seats	JHU: 16,229 (4.0%)	400,233
Hambantota	98,877 (35.4%)
2 seats	178,895 (64.0)
5 seats	JHU: 1,538 (0.5%)	279,310
Jaffna	-	-	ITAK: 257,320 (90.6%)
8 seats
EPDP: 18,612 (6.5%)
1 seat
SLMC: 1,995 (0.7%)	284,026
Vanni	16,213 (13.4%)
1 seat	6,415 (05.3%)	ITAK: 90,252 (74.7%)
5 seats
DPLF: 6,028 (4.99%)
EPDP: 1,084 (0.9%)	120,848
Batticaloa	6,151 (2.5%)	26,268 (10.9%)	ITAK: 161,011 (66.7%)
4 seats
SLMC: 43,131 (17.9%)
1 seat	241,375
Digamadulla	42,121 (14.5%)
1 seat	111,747 (38.5%)
3 seats	SLMC: 76,563 (26.4%)
2 seats
ITAK: 55,533 (19.1%)
1 seat
EPDP: 1,611 (0.5%)
JHU: 1,130 (0.4%)	290,361
Trincomalee	15,693 (8.6%)	31,053 (17.0%)
1 seat	ITAK: 68,955 (37.7%)
2 seats
SLMC: 65,187 (35.7%)
1 seat
JHU: 791 (0.4%)
EPDP: 540 (0.3%)	182,794
Kurunegala	340,768 (42.9%)
7 seats	412,157 (51.9%)
9 seats	JHU: 37,459 (4.7%)	793,647
Puttalam	135,152 (46.6%)
3 seats	142,784 (49.3%)
5 seats	JHU: 10,000 (3.4%)	289,763
Anuradhapura	148,612 (39.9%)
3 seats	212,943 (57.2%)
5 seats	JHU: 8,034 (2.2%)	372,125
Polonnaruwa	75,664 (40.8%)
2 seats	106,243 (57.3%)
3 seats	JHU: 2,413 (1.3%)	185,261
Badulla	181,705 (49.1%)
5 seats	178,634 (48.3%)
3 seats	JHU: 6,932 (1.9%)	370,178
Monaragala	71,067 (37.0)
2 seats	117,456 (61.1%)
3 seats	JHU: 2,675 (1.4%)	192,113
Ratnapura	205,490 (41.8%)
4 seats	261,450 (53.1%)
6 seats	JHU: 20,801 (4.2%)	492,003
Kegalle	186,641 (44.3%)
4 seats	214,267 (50.9%)
5 seats	JHU: 18,034 (4.3%)	421,131

Elected members

Notes

References

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