Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1947
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General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from August 23 to September 20, 1947.
[edit] Background
This is considered the first national election held in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). Although it took place before independence was actually granted, it was the first election under the Soulbury constitution.
Some of the major figures who had led the independence struggle were found in the rightwing United National Party led by D.S. Senanayake. In opposition were the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Bolshevik Leninist Party of India, which had led the independence struggle, the Communist Party of Ceylon, the Ceylon Indian Congress and an array of independents.
[edit] Results
Senanayake's UNP fell short of a majority, but was able to form a government in coalition with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, which had taken most of the seats in the Tamil regions.
| Party | Candidates nominated |
Candidates elected |
Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United National Party | 98 | 42* | 751,432 | 39.81 |
| Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 28 | 10 | 204,020 | 10.81 |
| Bolshevik-Leninist Party | 10 | 5 | 113,193 | 6.00 |
| All Ceylon Tamil Congress | 9 | 7 | 82,499 | 4.37 |
| Ceylon Indian Congress | 7 | 6 | 72,230 | 3.83 |
| Communist Party of Ceylon | 13 | 3 | 70,331 | 3.73 |
| Labour Party | 9 | 1 | 38,932 | 2.06 |
| United Lanka Congress | 2 | 0 | 3,953 | 0.21 |
| Swaraj Party | 3 | 0 | 1,393 | 0.07 |
| Independents | 181 | 21 | 549,381 | 29.10 |
| Total | 361 | 95 | 1,887,364 |
- Source: [1]. Some variation exists over the exact results. Electoral participation was 61.3%.
- (*)Electoral district of Puttalam was uncontested and returned H. S. Ismail (UNP)
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