2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
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.
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All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka 113 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 75.89% (1.77pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Polling divisions won by ■ – SLPFA ■ – SJB ■ – TNA ■ – SLFP ■ – EPDP ■ – Other parties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Politics of Sri Lanka |
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Sri Lanka portal
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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 the worst showing in its history following a split over party leadership, finishing in fourth 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 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.
The next general election in Sri Lanka is scheduled to be held in 2025; however, the president has the power to dissolve parliament anytime after 2+1⁄2 years according to the constitution.