Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1970
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The 1970 Sri Lankan election saw the election of arguably the most left-wing government in Sri Lanka's (then known as Ceylon) history.
[edit] Background
SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike had come to the conclusion that her party's best hope of power was forming a permanent alliance with Ceylon's Marxist parties. She assembled the SLFP, the Trotskyist LSSP, and the Communists into the United Front coalition. The UF's platform was called the Common Programme; it featured extensive nationalization, a more pro-Soviet foreign policy, expanded social programs, and abolition of the Soulbury constitution.
The UNP government of Dudley Senanayake had not made much headway with Ceylon's twin problems of inflation and unemployment. The UNP had become widely perceived as a party of the rich, out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people. The UF's socialist platform had much greater appeal.
[edit] Results
The UF won an overwhelming majority, despite the UNP's plurality of the popular vote, due to the member parties running in different districts. The Tamil regions voted for the two Tamil parties.
The 1970 election was the last held under the Soulbury constitution.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 1,839,979 | 36.9 | 91 | ||
| Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 433,224 | 8.7 | 19 | ||
| United National Party | 1,892,525 | 37.9 | 17 | ||
| Federal Party | 245,727 | 4.9 | 13 | ||
| Communist Party (Moscow) | 169,199 | 3.4 | 6 | ||
| Tamil Congress | 115,567 | 2.3 | 3 | ||
| Mahajana Eksath Peramuna | 46,571 | 0.9 | 0 | ||
| Others | 249,006 | 5.0 | 2 | ||
| Totals | 4,991,798 | 100.00 | 151 | ||
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Sri Lankan presidential elections
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