1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1952. It is notable for being the second and final election overseen and administered by the Department of Parliamentary Elections before its merger in 1955.[1]

2nd Ceylonese parliamentary election
24–30 May 1952
95 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon
48 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Dudley Senanayake S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike N.M. Perera
Party United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Leader since 1952 1951 1945
Leader's seat Dedigama Attanagalla Ruwanwella
Last election 42 Seats, 39.81% New Party 10 Seats, 10.81%
Seats won 54 9 9
Seat change 12 1
Popular vote 1,026,005 361,250 305,133
Percentage 44.08% 15.52% 13.11%
Prime Minister before election

Dudley Senanayake
United National Party

 Prime Minister-designate

Dudley Senanayake
United National Party

Background

Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952, and was succeeded by his son, Dudley. The national wave of mourning for Ceylon's first prime minister greatly boosted the UNP's fortunes.

The 1952 election was the first contested by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had broken away from the UNP on a platform of Sinhala nationalism, and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party), which split from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress over joining the UNP government.

Results

Because the estate Tamils had been stripped of their citizenship by the Senanayake government, the Ceylon Indian Congress, which most of them had supported, was eliminated from Parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party lost seats. The UNP won a majority, mainly at the cost of the CIC and the LSSP.

Summary of the 1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election[2]

 
PartyCandidatesVotes%Seats
 United National Party811,026,00544.08%54
 Sri Lanka Freedom Party48361,25015.52%9
 Lanka Sama Samaja Party39305,13313.11%9
 Communist Party of Ceylon /
Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party		19134,5285.78%4
 All Ceylon Tamil Congress764,5122.77%4
 Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi745,3311.95%2
 Ceylon Labour Party527,0961.16%1
Republican Party933,0011.42%0
 Buddhist Republican Party33,9870.17%0
 Independents88326,78314.04%12
Valid Votes3062,327,626100.00%95
Rejected Votes
Total Votes Polled
Total Electors Polled[lower-alpha 1]2,114,615
Registered Electors2,990,912
Turnout70.70%

Notes
  1. Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.

References
  1. "Elections Department in the limelight". ft.lk. Daily Financial Times. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. "Table 32 Parliament Election (1952)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
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