2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

5 August 2020

All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka
113 seats needed for a majority
Turnout75.89% ( 1.77pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Sajith Premadasa R. Sampanthan
Party SLPFA SJB TNA
Last election Did not exist Did not exist 4.62%, 16 seats
Seats won 145 54 10
Seat change New party New party 6
Popular vote 6,853,690 2,771,980 327,168
Percentage 59.09% 23.90% 2.82%
Swing New party New party 1.80pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake Ranil Wickremesinghe
Party NPP UNP
Last election 4.87%, 6 seats 45.66%, 106 seats
Seats won 3 1
Seat change 3 105
Popular vote 445,958 249,435
Percentage 3.84% 2.15%
Swing 1.03pp 43.51pp

Results by polling division:
      SLPFA        SJB        TNA        SLFP        EPDP        Other parties

Prime Minister before election

Mahinda Rajapaksa
SLPFA

Prime Minister after election

Mahinda Rajapaksa
SLPFA

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters.

The incumbent Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance coalition claimed a landslide victory in the election, winning 145 seats, while Samagi Jana Balawegaya won 54 seats, Tamil National Alliance won 10 seats and National People's Power won 3 seats. The main opposition United National Party suffered its worst showing in history following a split over party leadership, finishing in fifth place with only one seat.

The election was postponed at least twice due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, before the date was finalized as 5 August 2020. Prior to the election, a coronavirus-proof mock election was conducted by the Election Commission in June 2020 as a trial run in order to comply with health guidelines.

Initial reports revealed that the overall voter turnout was estimated at 70%, comparatively less than the turnout of the previous elections, mainly due to COVID-19. Vote counting started on 6 August 2020 at around 9 am. The new parliament is expected to reconvene on 20 August 2020.

In November 2018, the date was briefly moved forward by more than a year to 5 January 2019 after President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved parliament during a constitutional crisis and called for a snap election. The Supreme Court later suspended the dissolution and ordered a halt to the snap election, effectively moving the election's date back to 2020.