Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 November 2019. Incumbent president Maithripala Sirisena did not run for a second term. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and was endorsed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Sajith Premadasa, son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa and deputy leader of the United National Party was the candidate of the ruling party.
The results were announced on 17 November 2019. Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, receiving 52% of the vote compared to Premadasa's 42%. The results of the election subsequently brought the Rajapaksa family back to power after a 5-year interregnum.
Sirisena's term of office would have ended on 9 January 2020. They were the first presidential elections in Sri Lanka in which no sitting president, prime minister or opposition leader ran for president.
Background In 2015, the newly elected UNFGG government led by president Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe passed the nineteenth amendment to the constitution, which restored the two-term limit on the presidency (which had been removed in 2010) and reduced the presidential term from six to five years. The amendment also curtailed certain executive powers by strengthening independent commissions and increasing the role of parliament.
Political tensions escalated in 2018, when Sirisena attempted to sack Wickremesinghe from his position and dissolve Parliament, triggering a constitutional crisis and causing a political standoff that was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court. The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings killed more than 250 people and exposed major failures in security coordination and government oversight.
As the term of office of the president was reduced to five years, Sirisena's term would have ended on 9 January 2020. He was constitutionally eligible to call an early presidential election after completing four years of his term on 9 January 2019, but decided not to do so and later announced that he would not seek a second term in office. Therefore, the next presidential election was scheduled to be held between 9 November and 9 December 2019.
Electoral system The President of Sri Lanka is elected via limited ranked voting. Voters can express up to three ranked preferences for President. If no candidate receives over 50% of valid votes on the first count, all candidates except for the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes are eliminated. The second and third preferences of the eliminated candidates are distributed until one of the remaining two candidates receives an outright majority. In practice, this system has seen little use until 2024, as each direct election going back to the first in 1982 has resulted in a candidate from one of the two major parties or alliances at the time winning in the first count. For this reason, many citizens opt to mark only one candidate, and many are wholly unaware that multiple candidates can be ranked at all.
Timeline 2018 26 October–16 December – 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis: Mahinda Rajapaksa conspires with President Maithripala Sirisena to take the office of Prime Minister before the election. 2019 9 January – President Maithripala Sirisena becomes constitutionally eligible to call for presidential elections at anytime. 31 January – President Sirisena is approved unanimously as the candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) during the party's Anuradhapura district convention. 6 March – Gotabaya Rajapaksa submits an application through the United States Embassy to renounce his US citizenship. 26 March – Gotabaya Rajapaksa travels to the United States for a personal visit, where he also expects to expedite his request to renounce his citizenship. 7 April – While in the United States, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is served with notice of two separate civil lawsuits against him in California over the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge as well as on behalf of Roy Samathanam, a Tamil torture survivor. 12 April – Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka from the United States. 21 April – The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings occur. 27 April – Gotabaya Rajapaksa announces he will run for president. 11 August – Mahinda Rajapaksa and his party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), officially declares Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its presidential candidate. 12 August – Several members of the United National Party (UNP) organize a rally in Badulla to promote UNP deputy leader Sajith Premadasa as the UNP candidate, though the party was yet to name an official candidate. Sajith Premadasa clearly showed his intentions to run for the presidency. All UNFGG MPs in Badulla attended the rally, as well as Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne, Ajith Perera, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Ranjith Aluwihare, Wasantha Aluwihare, Chandrani Bandara Jayasinghe, Buddhika Pathirana, Ankumbura Withanage, and Ashoka Abeysinghe. 18 August – Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake is announced as the presidential candidate of the newly formed National People's Power alliance in a rally held at Galle Face. 23 August – Mangala Samaraweera pledges to support to Premadasa as the UNP candidate during a huge rally in Matara. 5 September – During a huge rally in Kurunegala, organized by all Kurunegala UNP MPs except Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, MPs pledge to support to Premadasa as the UNP candidate. 5 September – The SLFP informs the Elections Commission that they will be fielding a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. 6 September – Incumbent prime minister and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe reportedly expresses his intentions to be the presidential candidate of his party. 15 September – The National Elections Commission now has the power to call for a presidential election at any time. 18 September – The department of government printing Sri Lanka prints an extraordinary gazette, which lists 7 October 2019 as the date of nominations and 16 November as the date of election with the consultation of the election commission Sri Lanka. 24 September – Wickremesinghe agrees to nominate Premadasa as the presidential candidate of the New Democratic Front, the decision is yet to be approved by the working committee of the party. 26 September – The working committee of the UNP unanimously selects Premadasa as its presidential candidate. 29 September – Former Chief of the Sri Lankan Army Mahesh Senanayake announces he will run for president under the non-political National People's Movement (NPM), a collective of island-wide civil society organisations. 30 September – The Court of Appeal agrees to support the petition against recognizing Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a Sri Lankan citizen on 2 October. 1 October – Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeks court permission to travel to Singapore from 9 to 12 October due to a medical issue. 2 October – A three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal commences the petition filed against recognizing former Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a Sri Lankan citizen. 3 October – The UNP holds its National Convention at the Sudathasada Indoor Stadium to officially name Sajith Premadasa as its candidate to the public. 4 October – Charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa's citizenship issue are dismissed by the court and Rajapaksa is permitted to contest in the upcoming election. 5 October – The first ever presidential debate between presidential candidates is held. All main candidates except Gotabaya Rajapaksa took part in the event. 7 October – Nominations for the next president are held between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. A record of 33 candidates were nominated. 9 October – The SLFP pledges to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 15 October – The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress pledges its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa. 15 October – The Tamil Progressive Alliance pledges to support UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa. 18 October – The Ceylon Workers' Congress pledges to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 18 October – The Jathika Hela Urumaya holds a national convention to announce its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa. 4 November – The Tamil National Alliance pledges its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa. 5 November – Former President of Sri Lanka and former SLFP leader Chandrika Kumaratunga pledges to support UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa. 16 November – Election day: The election is held between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM. 17 November – President Maithripala Sirisena's first term of office ends. 18 November – Gotabaya Rajapaksa is inaugurated as the 8th President of Sri Lanka at Ruwanwelisaya. 20 November – Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resigns. 21 November – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appoints his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.
Prior to the election Sri Lankan recent election results Dates of elections United National Party(UNFGG) Sri Lanka Freedom Party(UPFA) Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Tamil National Alliance Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Independents Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %2015 presidential election6,217,16251.28%5,768,09047.58%－－－－－－－－－－2015 parliamentary election5,098,91645.66%4,732,66442.38%－－515,9634.62%543,9444.87%44,1930.40%42,8280.38%2018 local elections3,640,62029.42%1,497,23412.10%5,006,83740.47%337,8772.73%710,9325.75%92,8970.75%374,1323.02%
Sri Lankan political map prior to this election Presidential election, 2015 Parliamentary election, 2015 Elected members of each electoral district or municipalities, gaining the highest number of votes:
Opinion polls Both main candidates conducted their own surveys, with the results claiming victory for each of them. Previously circulated polls which were claimed to be conducted by the National Intelligence Service were later proven to be false and manipulated.
Nominations Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) After the landslide victory they won at the 2018 local elections, the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna intended to field their own candidate in the presidential election, with Chamal, Basil and Gotabaya (all brothers of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa) being mentioned as potential candidates. Calls for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run were made even though he was ineligible to run due to his possession of foreign citizenship. Basil also held foreign citizenship and was therefore ineligible.
Chamal Rajapaksa had also signaled his potential candidacy saying he would "willingly consider it if the party nominates him as the next presidential candidate", soon after the announcement made by his brother. Chamal Rajapaksa was unsure whether to contest from the SLFP or the SLPP but preferred a candidate that had the support of both parties.
On 12 January, Gotabaya announced he was ready to run in the elections if he had the support for it, though his announcement stunned senior SLPP leaders. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a leading government figure during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the development processes of the Colombo metropolitan area and the Northern Province.
In March, Chamal denied that neither him nor Basil would contest but avoided commenting on Gotabaya. Meanwhile, the SLPP announced that they favoured Gotabaya unless someone better is found.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa already had a well organized campaign promoting him and according to D. B. S Jeyaraj, the Rajapaksa family had chosen to support Gotabaya as the candidate and that he would renounce his US citizenship.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced he would run for presidency on 11 April, six days after the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. On 11 August, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SLPP officially announced that his brother Gotabaya would be its presidential candidate, while Mahinda would run as his prime ministerial candidate.
United National Party (UNP)