Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 17 August 2015, ten months ahead of schedule, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 15th Parliament.
The United National Party (UNP) led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) won 106 seats, an increase of 46 since the 2010 election, but failed to secure a majority in Parliament. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 95 seats, a decline of 49. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing Sri Lankan Tamils, won 16 seats, an increase of two from 2010. The remaining eight seats were won by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (6), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (1) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (1). Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNFGG and UNP, was able to form a national government with the support of UPFA MPs loyal to President Maithripala Sirisena.
Background
The last parliamentary election was held in April 2010. The incumbent United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), buoyed by the military defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, won a landslide victory, securing 144 seats in the legislature. In September 2010 the UPFA, with the support of some opposition MPs, passed the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, increasing the powers of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, leader of the UPFA, and removing the two term limit on the presidency. The UPFA was also able to impeach the chief justice, allowing Rajapaksa to appoint an ally as chief justice.
In November 2014 Rajapaksa called a presidential election, two years ahead of schedule, seeking an unprecedented third term. In a surprise move Maithripala Sirisena, Rajapaksa's Minister of Health, was put up as the common opposition candidate. At the election in January 2015 Sirisena inflicted a shock defeat on Rajapaksa. Sirisena subsequently formed a government dominated by the opposition United National Party (UNP). In March 2015 Sirisena formed a national government by appointing ministers from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main constituent of the UPFA.
In his election manifesto Sirisena had promised a 100-day reform program after which parliament would be dissolved on 23 April 2015. However, Srisena and his government faced opposition from a large contingent of legislators loyal to Rajapaksa, and, although some reforms, such as the curtailing of presidential powers and re-introducing the two term limit, were introduced by the passing of the nineteenth amendment, others, notably electoral reforms, were not carried out. With electoral reforms stalled and the 100-day reform program falling behind schedule, the UNP started calling for parliamentary elections. Sirisena dissolved parliament on 26 June 2015.
Electoral system
196 MPs were elected from 22 multi-member electoral districts using the D'Hondt method with an open list, a proportional representation system. The remaining 29 seats were allocated to contesting parties and independent groups in proportion to their share of the national vote.
Details
Nominations took place between 6 July 2015 and 13 July 2015. Postal voting took place on 5 August 2015 and 6 August 2015 except for school teachers who cast their postal votes on 3 August 2015. The date of the election was set for 17 August 2015. 15,044,490 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote at the election. 12,314 polling stations and 1,600 counting centres were used. Nearly 200,000 state employees and over 70,000 police officers were deployed on election duties.
The new parliament is expected to meet on 1 September 2015.
Contesting parties
A total of 6,151 candidates from 21 registered political parties (3,653) and 201 independent groups (2,498) competed for the 196 district seats. The nominations of 12 registered political parties and 24 independent groups were rejected. The UPFA, United National Front for Good Governance and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) contested in all 22 electoral districts.