Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2001

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Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on December 6, 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000.

Contents

[edit] Background

The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition. President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition. A no-confidence motion was prepared; to forestall this, Kumaratunga called the election.

More than 1,300 incidents of election violence were reported during the campaign. [1]. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. Overall, 60 people were killed in election-related violence, including 14 on polling day. [2]

[edit] Parties

[edit] Results

Kumaratunga's People's Alliance lost the resulting general election, which saw the United National Front win the legislative power. The UNP's leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe, became the new prime minister.

Having a President and Prime Minister from different parties proved to be unstable, and Parliament was dissolved again in 2004, leading to yet another general election.


[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
Parties Votes  % Seats
Constituency Party list Total
United National Front 4,086,026 45.6 109
People's Alliance 3,330,815 37.2 77
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 815,353 9.1 16
Tamil United Liberation Front 348,164 3.9 15
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 105,346 1.2 5
Eelam People's Democratic Party 72,783 0.8 2
Democratic People's Liberation Front 16,669 0.2 1
Others 180,379 0.2 0
Totals 8,955,869 100.0 196 29 225
Rejected votes 493,944 5.2
Votes cast 9,449,813 76.3
Registered voters 12,428,208

Source: Adam Carr's Election Archive

[edit] See also