Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1965

6th Ceylonese parliamentary election

22 March 1965

151 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon
76 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Dudley Senanayake	Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Party	United National Party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Leader since	1957	1960
Leader's seat	Dedigama	Attanagalla
Last election	30 Seats, 37.19%	75 Seats, 33.22%
Seats won	66	41
Seat change	36	34
Popular vote	1,590,929	1,221,437
Percentage	39.31%	30.18%

Prime Minister before election

Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sri Lanka Freedom Party

Prime Minister-designate

Dudley Senanayake
United National Party

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in March 1965.

Background

The SLFP government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike lost its majority in December 1964 when some MPs deserted it over the nationalization of Lakehouse Newspapers.

Bandaranaike's program of extensive nationalization had alarmed many of the island's business interests, which rallied to the United National Party. The economy had been stagnant, and rationing had been imposed in the face of persistent food shortages.

The UNP promised to form a National Front government to oppose the SLFP and its Marxist allies. UNP leader Dudley Senanayake promised cabinet posts both to the small Sinhala nationalist parties and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party).

Results

The UNP did not obtain a majority, but was able to govern as a National Front with the ITAK's support.

**Summary of the 1965 Ceylonese parliamentary election**^[1]
Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats
	United National Party	116	1,590,929	39.31%	66
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	101	1,221,437	30.18%	41
	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	20	217,914	5.38%	14
	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	25	302,095	7.47%	10
	Sri Lanka Freedom Socialist Party	32	130,429	3.22%	5
	Communist Party of Ceylon	9	109,754	2.71%	4
	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	15	98,746	2.44%	3
	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	61	96,665	2.39%	1
	National Liberation Front	10	18,791	0.46%	1
	Others	106	259,960	6.42%	6
Valid Votes		495	4,046,720	100.00%	151
Rejected Votes
Total Votes Polled
Total Electors Polled^{[lower-alpha 1]}			3,821,918
Registered Electors			4,710,887
Turnout^{[lower-alpha 2]}			81.13%

Notes

↑ Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.
↑ Actual turnout was slightly higher due to J. R. Jayewardene (UNP) and Bernard Soysa (LSSP) being elected from Colombo South Electoral District without a contest.

References

↑ "Table 36 Parliament Election (1965)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.

"Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-13.
"1965 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-10.
"Table 36 Parliament Election (1965)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
Rajasingham, K. T. (15 December 2001). "Chapter 19: Anguish and pain". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Asia Times.
Rajasingham, K. T. (22 December 2001). "Chapter 20: Tamil leadership lacks perspicuity". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Asia Times.

Elections and referendums in Sri Lanka
Presidential elections	1982 1988 1994 1999 2005 2010 2015
Parliamentary elections	1911 1916 1921 1924 1931 1936 1947 1952 1956 1960 (Mar) 1960 (Jul) 1965 1970 1977 1989 1994 2000 2001 2004 2010 2015
Provincial elections	1988 1993 1994 1999 2004 2008–09 2012 2013 2014 (Mar) 2014 (Sep)
Local elections	1977 1981 1983 1991 1994 1997 1998 2002 2003 2006 2008 2009 2011
Referendums	1982

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