Presidential Election 2005 :

Dawn of a new era

After President Chandrika Banadaranaike Kumaratunga resumed the second term of Presidency in December 1999, a General Election was called in October 24, 2000. The ruling alliance led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga could not manage to obtain an absolute majority in the general election held on October 24, 2000 but managed to form a minority government with the support of some parties.

However, the People's Alliance could not remain in power for its full term due to political cross-overs by leading Government Ministers. Therefore, President Kumaratunga had to dissolve the Parliament again in 2001 and call for a fresh General Election amid a tense situation. Continued military setbacks and devastating Tiger attacks on economic nerve centres of the country, dwindled the Peoples' Alliance hopes for re-election.

Mahinda Rajapaksa	Ranil Wickremesinghe

As predicted, the United National Front led by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe came to power at the December, 6, 2001 election. Following this, Sri Lanka once again experienced a cohabitation government where the Executive President was elected from a different political party whilst the Parliament majority was entertained by another political party.

Unlike the 1994 experience, this time the Head of State and the legislature had sharp differences over ministerial portfolios and over the way the government conducted the peace process after signing a Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE.

These sharp differences led to a conflict between the Executive and the Legislature and finally ended with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga taking over the Ministries of Defence, Finance and Media under her purview, in November 2003.

After this initial move President Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament in 2004. The ruling People's Alliance formed a broader alliance called United People's Freedom Alliance with the support of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to face the April General Elections.

At the April 2, 2004 election the UPFA Alliance led by President Kumaratunga managed to form a Government although they did not again enjoy an absolute majority in the Parliament.

Once again the subject of Presidential election came to fore, as the second term of President Kumaratunga reached a conclusion. However, there was controversy over this issue as President Kumaratunga argued that she could stay in power for another year as she called for an early Presidential election in 1999 before completing her first term.

The matter was then forwarded to the Supreme Court for its ruling in August, 2005. The Supreme Court ruled that the presidential election was due in 2005, as the term of President Kumaratunga comes to on end in December 22, 2005.

After nominations were called the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance decided to nominate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as their Presidential candidate whilst the main Opposition United National Party nominated Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as their Presidential candidate.

On the nominations date (September 7, 2005) 13 candidates from 13 registered political parties handed over nominations to contest the Presidential election scheduled for November 17, 2005.

Apart from the candidates from the two main political parties, nominations of Wimal Geeganage from the Sri Lanka National Front (Cricket Bat), Chamil Jayaneththi from the New Left Front (Table), Ajith Kumara from the Democratic Unity Alliance (Two Leaves), Siritunga Jayasuriya from the United Socialist Party (Trishaw), P. Nelson Perera from the Sri Lanka Progressive Front (Flower Vase), Wije Dias from the Socialist Equality Party (Pair of Scissors) Anura de Silva from the United Lalith Front (Swan), Aruna de Soyza from the Ruhunu Janatha Party (Motor Car), Achala Ashoka Suraweera from the Jathika Sangwardhena Peramuna (Coconut), Victor Hettigoda from the Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya (Cup), Hewaheenipallage Shantha Dharmadwaja from the United National Alternative Front (Gate) were accepted by the Commissioner of Elections.

The campaign of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was mainly against the Ceasefire Agreement signed by the UNF Government and on the provision of concessions to the suppressed people. He got the support of the main political parties in the South. The Jathika Hela Urumaya which had 11 members in the Parliament extended their support to Premier Rajapaksa at the elections.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe took the opportunity of obtaining minority support at the election campaign. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers Congress extended their support to Wickremesinghe. They carried out their campaign on bringing economic prosperity. However, both candidates did not receive votes from the North-East due to an LTTE-enforced boycott of the election.The elections for the Presidency in the year 2005 became a close fight between the two main candidates. The campaign was also a relatively peaceful one as fever incidents of elections violence were reported.

In the end Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged victorious, obtaining a slim majority against his rival Ranil Wickremesinghe. Rajapaksa managed to obtain 4,887,152 (50.29%) against the 4,706,366 (48.43%) votes obtained by Wickremesinghe.

Mahinda Rajapaksa managed to win the elections after securing majority votes in Gamapaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala, Ratnapura and Kegalle districts.Ranil Wickremsinghe managed to secure majority votes in Colombo, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla, Trincomalee, Puttalam and Badulla districts.On November 19, 2005 President-elect Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the new President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka before Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, to become the fifth executive President of the country.

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Presidential Election - Novemebr 17, 2005

Name Party Symbol No of Percentage

Votes

Mahinda Rajapaksa United People's Freedom Alliance Betel Leaf 4,887,152 50.29

Ranil Wickremesinghe United National Party Elephant 4,706,366 48.43

Siritunga Jayasuriya United Socialist Party Tri-shaw 35,425 0.36

Achala Ashoka Suraweera Jathika Sangwardhana Peramuna Coconut 31,238 0.32

Victor Hettigoda Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya Cup 14,458 0.15

Chamil Jayaneththi New Left Front Table 9,292 0.10

Aruna de Soyza Ruhunu Janatha Party Motor Car 7,685 0.08

Wimal Geeganage Sri Lanka National Front Cricket Bat 6,639 0.07

Anura de Silva United Lalith Front Swan 6,357 0.07

Ajith Kumara Jayaweera Democratic Unity Alliance Two leaves 5,082 0.05

Arachchige

Wije Dias Socialist Equality Party Pair of Scissors 3,500 0.04

P. Nelson Perera Sri Lanka Progressive Front Flower Vase 2,525 0.03

Hewaheenipallage Shantha United National Alternative Front Gate 1,316 0.01

Dharmadwaja

1. Number of registered electors 13,327,160

2. Total polled 9,826,778

3. Number of valid votes 9,717,039

4. Number of valid voted equal to one half 4,858,519.5

Candidate who polled more than one-half of the valid votes: Mahinda Rajapaksa

Number of valid votes received by that candidate over the above

such one-half of the valid votes 28,632

Percentage of the valid votes polled by that candidate 50.29

Presidential Election - December 21, 1999

Name Party Symbol No of Percentage

Votes

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga People's Alliance Chair 4,312,157 51.12

Ranil Wickremesinghe United National PartyElephant 3,602,748 42.71

M.D. Nandana Gunathilaka Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Bell 344,173 4.08

Dr. Harischandra Wijetunga Sinhalaye Mahasammatha

Boomiputhra Pakshaya AeroPlane 35,854 0.43

Rajiva Wijesinha Liberal Party Book 25,085 0.30

Vasudeva Nanayakkara Left and Democratic Alliance Clock 23,668 0.28

Tennyson Edirisuriya Independent Pair of Scissors 21,119 0.25

Abdul Rasool Sri Lanka Muslim Kachchi Pair of Scale 17,359 0.21

Kamal Karunadasa People's Liberation Solidarity Front Lantern 11,333 0.13

Hudson Samarasinghe Independent Radio 7,184 0.09

Ariyawansa Dissanayaka Democratic United National Front Eagle 4,039 0.05

Alwis Weerakkody Premawardhana People's Freedom Front Butterfly 3 983 0.05

Number of registered Votes 11,779,200

Total polled 8,635,290

Number of valid votes 8,435,754

Number of valid voted equal to one half of the valid votes 4,217,877

Candidate who polled more than one-half of the valid votes: Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

Presidential Election - November 11, 1994

Name Party Symbol No of Percentage

Votes

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga People's Alliance Chair 4,709,205 62.28

Vajira Srimathi Dissanayake United National Party Elephant 2,715,285 35.91

Hudson Samarasinghe Independent Table 58,886 0.78

Dr. Harischandra Wijetunga Sinhalaye Mahasammatha

Boomiputhra Pakshaya AeroPlane 32,651 0.43

A.J. Ranasinghe Independent Swan 22,752 0.30

Galappaththi Arachchige Nihal Sri Lanka Progressive Front Flower Vase 22,749 0.30

Number of registered electors 10,945,065

Total polled 7,713,232

Number of valid votes 7,561,526

Number of votes equal to one half 3,780,763

Candidate who polled more than one-half of this number of valid votes - Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

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