Ceylonese parliamentary election, July 1960
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General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in July 1960.
[edit] Background
The March 1960 election had left neither of Ceylon's two major parties with a majority, so another election was inevitable.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had been in disarray since the death of leader S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike the previous year, settled on his widow, Sirimavo, as its new leader. She pledged to continue her husband's policies, notably the Sinhala Only Act, and to proceed with repatriation of the estate Tamils to India.
The United National Party, led by Dudley Senanayake, had a similar position towards the island's minorities. Its differences with the SLFP were over economic policy. The SLFP called for a socialist program of nationalization of both private enterprises and religious schools; the UNP preferred to leave both in private hands.
[edit] Results
The SLFP obtained a bare majority, despite getting a lower share of the popular vote than the UNP, and Mrs. Bandaranaike became prime minister.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 1,022,171 | 33.6 | 75 | ||
| United National Party | 1,144,166 | 37.6 | 30 | ||
| Federal Party | 213,733 | 7.0 | 16 | ||
| Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 224,995 | 7.4 | 12 | ||
| Communist Party (Moscow) | 90,219 | 3.0 | 4 | ||
| Mahajana Eksath Peramuna | 106,616 | 3.5 | 3 | ||
| Prajathanthravadi Pakshaya | 30,208 | 1.0 | 2 | ||
| Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna | 14,030 | 0.4 | 2 | ||
| Tamil Congress | 46,804 | 1.5 | 1 | ||
| Others | 183,728 | 6.4 | 7 | ||
| Totals | 2,827,085 | 100.0 | 151 | ||
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