General election in Sri Lanka in 1994

← 1989Parliamentary election 19942000 →

(Share of votes in%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

48.94

44.04

1.80

1.67

1.13

2.41

PA ^a

UNP

SLMC

TULF

SLPF ^e

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1989

 % p

 18th

 16

 14th

 12

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

+17.04

-6.67

-1.81

-1.70

+1.13

-8.00

PA ^a

UNP

SLMC

TULF

SLPF ^e

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^a The People's Alliance (PA), a party alliance led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), was only founded shortly before the election. The election results of the PA are compared with those of the SLFP in 1989.

^e The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna first took part in elections and ran along with other groups under the name Sri Lanka Progressive Front (SLPF).

The parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in 1994 took place on August 16, 1994. It ended with a victory for the People's Alliance (PA) led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). As a result of the PA election victory, there was a change of government and the government of the United National Party (UNP), which had existed since 1977, came to an end.

prehistory

The legislative period of the 1989 elected parliament of Sri Lanka would not have ended until February 1995. However, on June 24, 1994 , President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga surprisingly announced the dissolution of parliament and set the date for the new election on August 16, 1994. The previous legislative period had been very troubled internally. Between 1987 and 1989 there had been a series of terrorist acts by the radical Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), to which numerous politicians had fallen victim. The government had successfully suppressed the uprising, but it resulted in multiple human rights violations. A permanent guerrilla war with the Tamil separatists of the LTTE was in progress in the north and partly also in the east of the island, which could not be ended permanently even by the temporary stationing of Indian troops (IPKF, Indian Peacekeeping Force). In 1990 the IPKF withdrew, after which the civil war regained intensity. On May 1, 1993, President Ranasinghe Premadasa (UNP) was the victim of an LTTE suicide bombing in Colombo. The parliament then elected the previous Prime Minister Wijetunga as his successor in the presidency with its UNP majority.

The events at the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) were shaped by the rise of Chandrika Kumaratunga . Kumaratunga came from one of the dominant political dynasties in Sri Lanka. Her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike , had been Prime Minister of Sri Lanka three times. Kumaratunga managed to channel the many dissatisfactions with the UNP government and in 1993 to put together an alliance of parties, the People's Alliance, under the leadership of the SLFP.

Election campaign

The official election campaign began on July 11, 1994. A total of 1,449 candidates from 13 registered political parties and 27 political groups competed for the 225 seats in parliament. The two main opponents were the People's Alliance (PA), which was formed only last year, under the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the previously ruling United National Party (UNP). Both the PA and UNP ran candidates in all constituencies except Jaffna constituency, which was uncertain by the civil war. The previously ruling UNP fought its election campaign mainly on the subject of economic policy. It broke through the planned economy dirigism of the SLFP governments from 1970 to 1977 and thus helped the country to longer phases of economic growth. In addition, due to her long reign since 1977, she claimed greater political leadership for herself. The People's Alliance emphasized the need for a social economy and promised to fight inflation and increase social spending. The People's Alliance largely eschewed the anti-capitalist and anti-Western rhetoric used in previous elections.

The People's Alliance election campaign focused on the issue of civil rights and their preservation. She criticized the ruthless actions of the security forces during the JVP uprising from 1987 to 1989 with the extra-legal killings that took place. She criticized the great concentration of power in the hands of the president, which had taken place since the introduction of the presidential system in 1978, and promised a return to the former parliamentary " Westminster system ". The PA also criticized the alleged corruption and bureaucracy of the UNP governments.

The three Tamil parties of the north and east, EROS , PLOTE and TELO , concluded an electoral alliance. In the districts (constituencies) of Ampara, Batticaloa, Colombo and Trincomalee only candidates from TELO ran, in the constituency Vanni only candidates from the DPLF (the political arm of PLOTE) and in the constituency Jaffna only independents.

Like the previous elections since the 1980s, the election campaign was characterized by extremely violent clashes. The police registered 1,600 such incidents, in which 21 people were killed.

Election mode

→ Main article : Elections in Sri Lanka

The choice was made according to the mode that has been in force in Sri Lanka since 1989. 196 of the 225 members of parliament were elected in a total of 22 multi-person constituencies. A separate 5% blocking clause applied in each constituency. The voters had the opportunity to sort the candidates on the party lists according to first, second and third preference. A further 29 parliamentary seats were determined by proportional representation based on the relative nationwide share of the votes of the parties.

Results

Of 10,945,065 registered voters, 8,344,095 (76.24%) took part. 400,389 votes (4.80%) were considered invalid. The following lists the nationwide results as well as the results in the 22 constituencies with the parliamentary seats won.

Nationwide result

Party / electoral alliance		Abbreviation	be right	%	Seats
					nationwide	Constituencies	total
	People's Alliance	PA	3,887,823	48.94	14th	91	105
	United National Party	UNP	3,498,370	44.04	13	81	94
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	SLMC	143,307	1.80	1	6th	7th
	Tamil United Liberation Front	TULF	132,461	1.67	1	4th	5
	Sri Lanka People's Front	SLPF	90,078	1.13	0	1	1
	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	MEP	68,538	0.86	0	0	0
	Democratic People's Liberation Front	DPLF	38,028	0.48	0	3	3
	Up-Country People's Front	UCPF	27,374	0.34	0	1	1
	Eelam People's Democratic Party	EPDP	10,744	0.14	0	9	9
All the rest together			46,983	0.59	0	0	0
total			7.943.706	100.0	29	196	225
Invalid or empty ballot papers (as a percentage of those submitted)			400,389 (4.80%)
Total votes cast (turnout)			8,344,095 (76.24%)
Registered voters			10,945,065

Results by constituency

The turnout in the individual constituencies was extremely different. While it was consistently high in the southern and central Sinhalese-dominated constituencies, it was only 2 and 25% in the two Tamil-dominated northern constituencies, Jaffna and Vanni. The constituency of Jaffna practically did not take part in the election. The LTTE , which controlled the Jaffna constituency, had refused to cooperate with the government to hold regular elections.

In this constituency only in the Katys district a larger number of voters (21.7%) could cast their vote, in Jaffna the turnout was 4% and in the other constituencies of the constituency it was less than 0.3% (see adjacent map) . In the Vanni constituency, voter turnout in the Vavuniya district was only 4.5%, in the other two districts of the constituency around 33%.

Constituency	Valid votes	Seats	PA		UNP		SLPF		TULF		SLMC		Other		Wahlbe- pation
			%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats
Colombo	921.933	20th	50.94	11	41.77	9	1.24	0	-	0	-	0	6.05	0	77.56
Gampaha	896.288	18th	56.79	11	41.91	7th	1.30	0	-	0	-	0	0.00	0	81.51
Kalutara	505.360	10	53.77	6th	43.75	4th	1.23	0	-	0	-	0	1.24	0	82.14
Mahanuwara	576,552	12	46.43	5	52.35	7th	0.53	0	-	0	-	0	0.69	0	83.67
Matale	205.962	5	49.85	3	48.61	2	0.70	0	-	0	-	0	0.84	0	84.32
Nuwara Eliya	301.918	8th	32.35	2	58.12	5	0.31	0	-	0	-	0	9.23	1	83.67
bile	492.914	10	56.39	6th	41.24	4th	1.47	0	-	0	-	0	0.90	0	81.22
Matara	379,467	8th	59.90	5	37.43	3	2.30	0	-	0	-	0	0.37	0	78.78
Hambantota	246,679	7th	53.51	4th	38.67	2	6.21	1	-	0	-	0	1.61	0	79.60
Jaffna	13,479	10	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	15.56	1	84.44	9	2.32
Vanni	42,271	6th	13.21	1	18.57	1	-	0	7.19	0	19.26	1	41.77	3	25.34
Batticaloa	174,088	5	11.07	0	13.35	1	-	0	43.95	3	17.85	1	13.77	0	72.40
Digamadulla	240,766	6th	22.49	1	32.72	3	0.28	0	10.19	0	31.19	2	3.14	0	81.25
Trincomalee	119,942	4th	19.91	0	29.17	2	0.49	0	23.66	1	22.43	1	4.33	0	68.78
Kurunegala	707.279	15th	51.87	8th	47.02	7th	0.71	0	-	0	-	0	0.41	0	84.12
Puttalam	280.729	7th	53.65	4th	45.48	3	0.58	0	-	0	-	0	0.30	0	77.30
Anuradhapura	326.984	8th	55.19	5	43.45	3	0.94	0	-	0	-	0	0.42	0	83.95
Polonnauwa	161,078	5	51.18	3	47.62	2	1.20	0	-	0	-	0	0.00	0	83.68
Badulla	337.059	8th	43.48	3	54.04	5	1.05	0	-	0	-	0	1.43	0	84.00
Moneragala	154,663	5	50.40	3	43.81	2	1.23	0	-	0	-	0	4.56	0	85.75
Ratnapura	460.285	10	50.77	6th	47.96	4th	0.51	0	-	0	-	0	0.76	0	87.25
Kegalle	397.990	9	47.91	4th	51.24	5	0.84	0	-	0	-	0	0.00	0	82.85
total	7,943,686	196	48.94	91	44.04	81	1.13	1	1.67	4th	1.80	6th	2.41	13	76.24

1. ↑ ^{a b} thereof 9.07% and 1 mandate for the UCPF.
2. ↑ ^{a b} The EPDP candidates ran as independents in the Jaffna constituency, won 79.71% of the votes and 9 seats.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Of which 27.36% and 3 mandates for the DPLF and 8.20% for the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).

Voting cards

• Majorities according to constituencies and constituencies
• 

  Strongest parties in the 22 constituencies: People's Alliance (PA) United National FParty (UNP) Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) DPLF EPDP, turnout around 2%
  
  
  
  
  

• 

  Strongest parties in 160 electoral districts: People's Alliance (PA) United National Party (UNP) Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) SLMC, voter turnout 4-5% (District 88-Jaffna, 91-Vavuniya) EPDP (District 79-Kayts), or DPLF (District 92-Mannar) voter turnout 0 to 1.1%
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Assessment and consequences of the choice

The result was a clear election victory for the opposition People's Alliance led by the SLFP. As a result of the changed majority, there was a change of government. On August 19, the SLFP party leader Chandrika Kumaratunga was appointed Prime Minister and formed a cabinet of representatives from the People's Alliance and the coalition partners (including the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress). The new government could also rely on the at least occasional parliamentary support from the two Tamil parties TULF and UCPF.

According to election observers, the election was relatively fair and free for Sri Lankan standards, with the exception of the impaired elections in the constituencies of Jaffna and Vanni. Several thousand local election observers and a few dozen international election observers had observed the elections. The main points of criticism were the violent clashes before the election and the government's use of the state media for its own election propaganda. The last-mentioned effect in particular was at least partially offset by the private media, which have now become stronger.

A few months later, the UNP also suffered a defeat in the presidential election and Chandrika Kumaratunga switched from the office of prime minister to the office of president.

Literature and Sources

• SWR de A. Samarasinghe: The 1994 Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka: A Vote for Good Governance. Asian Survey, 34, No. 12: 1019-34 (1994). JSTOR 2645273

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Parliamentary Elections Results. Department of Elections, accessed on October 19, 2019 (English, the 5 percent threshold clause did not apply nationwide, but always based on the respective constituency). 
2. ^ A Brief History of the JVP (Peoples Liberation Front) Sri Lanka. People's Liberation Front, November 12, 2001, accessed August 27, 2015 (JVP website). 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} S. WR de A. Samarasinghe: The 1994 Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka: A Vote for Good Governance. Asian Survey, 34, No. 12: 1019-34 (1994). JSTOR 2645273
4. ↑ Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE. (pdf) January 24, 2007, accessed on August 29, 2020 (English).