2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

General elections are usually held every six years in Sri Lanka, to elect 225 members to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The country is divided into 22 electoral districts, and each district is assigned a specific number of seats depending on the districts population, with 196 seats distributed among the districts. At the election, parties contesting in a given district are awarded a certain number of seats available from the district based on the number of votes obtained in the whole district. The remaining 29 seats are distributed amongst the contesting political parties based on the percentage of the national vote received by each party.[6]

The previous parliamentary election was held on April 2, 2004. The newly formed UPFA alliance became the largest group in Parliament by winning 105 of the 225 seats, allowing it to form a minority government with the support of the sole Eelam People's Democratic Party MP.[7][8] On April 6, 2004, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa, the leader of the UPFA, as the new Prime Minister.[9] The rest of the government were sworn in on April 10, 2004.[10][11] The new parliament was sworn in on April 22, 2004.[12]

Since then a number of defections and counter-defections from the opposition have increased the number of government MPs to 129, most of whom have been rewarded with ministerial posts:[13]

• 9 August 2004: Three Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MPs join UPFA.[14]
• 3 September 2004: Ceylon Workers' Congress (eight MPs) joins UPFA, giving it a majority in parliament.[15][16]
• 16 June 2005: Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) (39 MPs) quits UPFA.[17][18]
• 25 January 2006: Four United National Party MPs join UPFA.[19][20]
• 28 January 2007: 18 UNP MPs and 6 SLMC MPs join UPFA.[21][22][23]
• 30 January 2007: Jathika Hela Urumaya (eight MPs) joins UPFA.[24][25][26][27]
• 12 December 2007: Four SLMC MPs quit the UPFA.[28][29]
• 28 December 2008: 12 MPs, who had left the JVP in May 2008 to form the National Freedom Front, join the UPFA.[30][31]

This has allowed the UPFA form a stable government for six years.

Following the expiration of the second term of President Kumaratunge, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse defeated the leader of the United National Party and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe in the 2005 Presidential election. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. Under Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan military defeated the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group in May 2009, ending the 30 year Sri Lankan Civil War and significantly increasing Rajapaksa's popularity in the country. Rajapaksa rode this wave of popularity to win the 2010 Presidential election, defeating opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka by a large margin.

With the term of the 13th Parliament (also known as the 6th Parliament) scheduled to end in April 2010, Rajapaksa dissolved parliament on February 9, 2010, paving the way for fresh elections.[1] Nominations took place between February 19 and February 26, and the date of the election was set for April 8, 2010.[1] 14,088,500 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election, for which 11,102 polling stations were set up. Of this, 415,432 people were eligible to cast their vote via postal voting. Final votes were counted at 1,387 counting centers around the country.[32]

Since the 2004 election, there were four changes to number of seats allocated to each electoral district. Anuradhapura and Gampaha gained one seat each while Colombo and Kurunegala lost a seat each.[33]

All the constituent parties of the ruling UPFA contested under its banner. The parliamentary opposition parties (UNF, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and (TNA), who had come together to support common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka at the presidential election, were unable to form a common alliance to contest in the election. Therefore, the UNF and the TNA contested alone, while Fonseka and the JVP allied to form a new alliance called the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). Fonseka was the DNA's chief candidate in Colombo district.[34]

The UPFA, UNF and DNA contested in all 22 electoral districts while the TNA contested in the 5 districts in the north and east.[35] The UNF contested under the name and symbol of the United National Party, as it had done in the previous two parliamentary elections.[35] The TNA contested under the name and symbol of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, as it did in the last parliamentary election.[35]

A record 7,680 candidates contested for the 196 district seats.[35]

Sri Lankan elections have a history of violence, misuse of state resources, and other violations of election laws. 274 incidents had been reported to the police up to 5 April.[36] The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) recorded 413 incidents up to 7 April.[37] The CMEV has stated that it is impossible to say if the election had been "free and fair".[38] People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) recorded 270 incidents up to 7 April.[39] The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has stated that the election was not free and fair.[40] CaFFE condemned the police and election commissioner for not enforcing electoral law.[41] The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) also recorded a number of violations.[42] A significant feature of the violence was intra-party clashes between UPFA candidates.

On the day of the election, there were a number of elections violations reported around the country. The violations in the Nawalapitiya electorate of the Kandy District were serious enough for the Elections Commissioner to nullify the voting in some areas of the electorate and order a re-poll.[43] Results from the Trincomalee District were also suspended as some ballot papers had been stolen.[44] Re-polling for the effected polling areas took place on April 20.[45]

• Results of the 2010 Sri Lankan general election by electoral district
• Results of the 2010 Sri Lankan general election by province

• The Parliament of Sri Lanka
• Department of Elections