Sri Lankan legislative election, 2004
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Template:Politics of Sri Lanka Legislative elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only 82 seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this is eight seats short of a majority, it seems likely that the Alliance will be able to form a government.
On 6 April President Chandrika Kumaratunga commissioned Mahinda Rajapakse, a former Labour Minister, as Prime Minister.
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 belongs to the People's Alliance, such as the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Democratic United National Front, the Lanka Sama Samaj Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, later joined UPFA.
In the 2001 elections, People's Alliance and Janatha Vimukti Peramuna had fought separately. Then JVP won 9.1% of the vote and 16 seats. At this election it is reported than as many as 39 JVP members won seats as Freedom Alliance candidates.
The runner-up in the election was the United National Front (UNF), the front led by the United National Party. Except for UNP, 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 Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). The Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (political wing of PLOTE) lost their parliamentary representation.
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.
Provisional results
National summary of votes and seats
| Party | Votes | % | Change | Seats | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eelam People's Democratic Party | 21,860 | 0.2 | -0.6 | 1 | -1 |
| Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi | 633,654 | 6.8 | - | 22 | +22 |
| Jathika Hela Urumaya | 554,076 | 6.0 | - | 9 | +9 |
| Sri Lanka Muslim Congress | 186,876 | 2.0 | +0.8 | 5 | - |
| United National Front | 3,410,174 | 36.8 | -8.8 | 82 | -27 |
| United People's Freedom Alliance | 4,317,996 | 46.6 | +0.2 | 105 | +12 |
| Other | 138,096 | 1.5 | - | 1 | -15 |
| Total | 9,262,732 | - | - | 225 | -29 |
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.
Votes and seats by electoral district
| District | UNP | UPFA | Other | Valid Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anuradhapura | 148,612 (39.9%) 3 seats | 212,943 (57.2%) 5 seats | JHU: 8,034 (2.2%) | 372,125 |
| Badulla | 181,705 (49.1%) 5 seats | 178,634 (48.3%) 3 seats | JHU: 6,932 (1.9%) | 370,178 |
| 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 |
| Colombo | 441,841 (41.8%) 9 seats | 414,688 (39.2%) 8 seats | JHU: 190,618 (18.0%) 3 seats | 1,057,966 |
| 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 |
| Galle | 209,399 (38.7%) 4 seats | 306,385 (56.6%) 6 seats | JHU: 22,826 (4.2%) | 541,511 |
| Gampaha | 367,572 (37.1%) 6 seats | 509,963 (51.5%) 9 seats | JHU: 102,516 (19.4%) 2 seats | 990,002 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Kegalle | 186,641 (44.3%) 4 seats | 214,267 (50.9%) 5 seats | JHU: 18,034 (4.3%) | 421,131 |
| Kurunegala | 340,768 (42.9%) 7 seats | 412,157 (51.9%) 9 seats | JHU: 37,459 (4.7%) | 793,647 |
| Matale | 100,642 (45.7%) 2 seats | 108,259 (49.2%) 3 seats | JHU: 8,819 (4.0%) | 220,062 |
| Matara | 139,633 (34.9%) 3 seats | 241,235 (60.3%) 5 seats | JHU: 16,229 (4.0%) | 400,233 |
| Monaragala | 71,067 (37.0) 2 seats | 117,456 (61.1%) 3 seats | JHU: 2,675 (1.4%) | 192,113 |
| Nuwara-Eliya | 82,945 (25.3%) 2 seats | 176,971 (54.0%) 4 seats | JHU: 4,454 (1.4%) Other: 63,239 (19.3%) 1 seat | 327,609 |
| Polonnaruwa | 75,664 (40.8%) 2 seats | 106,243 (57.3%) 3 seats | JHU: 2,413 (1.3%) | 185,261 |
| Puttalam | 135,152 (46.6%) 3 seats | 142,784 (49.3%) 5 seats | JHU: 10,000 (3.4%) | 289,763 |
| Ratnapura | 205,490 (41.8%) 4 seats | 261,450 (53.1%) 6 seats | JHU: 20,801 (4.2%) | 492,003 |
| 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 |
| Vanni | 33,621 (23.9%) 1 seat | 7,259 (05.2%) | ITAK: 90,835 (64.7%) 5 seats EPDP: 1,097 (0.8%) | 140,377 |
Background
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.