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{{Short description|Election}}

factoids

| seats1 = 105| seat_change1 = {{increase}}12 | popular_vote1 = 4,223,970 | percentage1 = 45.60%| swing1 = {{decrease}}0.01%150x150px)| leader2 = Ranil Wickremesinghe| leader_since2 = 1994| party2 = United National Front (Sri Lanka)Colombo Electoral District>Colombo District| last_election2 = 45.60%, 109 seats| seats2 = 82| seat_change2 = {{decrease}} 27| popular_vote2 = 3,504,200 | percentage2 = 37.83% | swing2 = {{decrease}}7.73%| map_image = Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election 2004.png| map_size = 250px| map_caption = Winners of polling divisions. UPFA in blue and UNF in green.Prime Minister of Sri Lanka>Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Sri Lanka>Prime Minister-designate| before_election = Ranil Wickremesinghe| after_election = Mahinda Rajapaksa| before_party = United National Front (Sri Lanka)| after_party = United People's Freedom Alliance}}{{Politics of Sri Lanka}}Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only eighty two seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this was eight seats short of an absolute majority, the Alliance was able to form a government.On 6 April, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed former Minister of Labour Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.

Parties

The United People's Freedom Alliance was formed as an alliance between President Kumaratunga's party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Other parties that belong to the People's Alliance, such as the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Democratic United National Front, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, later joined UPFA.In the 2001 elections, the People's Alliance and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna had fought separately. Then the JVP won 9.1% of the vote and sixteen seats. At this election it is reported than as many as thirty nine JVP members won seats as UPFA candidates.The runner-up in the election was the United National Front (UNF), the front led by the United National Party. In addition to the UNP, the UNF also had candidates from minor parties such as Ceylon Workers Congress.Other parties winning seats were the Buddhist, Sinhala nationalist outfit Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the pro-LTTE alliance Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). The Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (the political wing of PLOTE) lost their parliamentary representation.

Campaign

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's UNF government had been in limbo since October 2003, when President Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency and took three key cabinet portfolios for her party. During the campaign, she argued that Wickremasinghe had been too soft on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and promised to take a harder line. The UNF, for its part, stressed the economic gains that had been made with the ceasefire and the need to find a negotiated solution to the civil war.

Voting

Polling booths opened at 07:00 local time and remained open until 16:00 (01:00 to 10:00 UTC). A total of 10,670 polling stations were installed to receive votes from 12.9 million eligible voters. Voter turnout was high, at around 75%.The backdrop to polling day was tense, with continued guerrilla activity by Tamil Tiger separatists and five politically motivated murders in the run-up to the election. However, except for a slightly lower turnout in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and allegations of fraud in the North, the election was calm and orderly.Sri Lanka's Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said that despite reported cases of electoral malpractice in certain polling stations in six electoral districts, there would be no fresh elections in these areas and the results issued by the Commission were final.

Results

The United People's Freedom Alliance vote and seat totals are compared with the combined People's Alliance and JVP vote and seat counts at the 2001 election.{{Election results|image=(File:Sri Lanka Parliament 2004.svg)seattype2=National|seattype3=TotalUnited People's Freedom Alliance{{efn-lr>Included the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, the National Muslim Congress, the National Unity Alliance, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya.}}st1t1=92st3t1=105United National Front (Sri Lanka)>United National Front{{Efn-lrUnited National Party. Also consisted of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, the Democratic People's Front and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (which contested separately in Ampara Electoral District>Ampara, Batticaloa Electoral District, Jaffna Electoral District>Jaffna and Trincomalee Electoral District).}}>votes2=3504200st2t2=11|st3t2=82Tamil National Alliance{{Efn-lr>Contested under the name and symbol of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. Also consisted of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization.}}st1t3=20st3t3=22Jathika Hela Urumaya>votes4=552724st2t4=2|st3t4=9Sri Lanka Muslim Congress>votes5=186876st2t5=1|st3t5=5Up-Country People's Front>votes6=49728st2t6=0|st3t6=1Eelam People's Democratic Party>votes7=24955st2t7=0|st3t7=1votes9=14956st2t9=0|st3t9=0United Socialist Party (Sri Lanka)>United Socialist Partyst1t10=0st3t10=0Ceylon Democratic Unity Alliance>votes11=10736st2t11=0|st3t11=0Left Liberation Front>New Left Frontst1t12=0st3t12=0Democratic People's Liberation Front{{efn-lr>Including the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam.}}st1t13=0st3t13=0votes14=3779st2t14=0|st3t14=0votes15=3773st2t15=0|st3t15=0votes16=1540st2t16=0|st3t16=0Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya>votes17=1401st2t17=0|st3t17=0votes18=1136st2t18=0|st3t18=0votes19=814st2t19=0|st3t19=0votes20=590st2t20=0|st3t20=0Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna>Sri Lanka National Frontst1t21=0st3t21=0Liberal Party of Sri Lanka>votes22=413st2t22=0|st3t22=0votes23=382st2t23=0|st3t23=0Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)>Socialist Equality Partyst1t24=0st3t24=0Democratic United National Front>votes25=141st2t25=0|st3t25=0votes26=15865st2t26=0|st3t26=0|invalid=534948total_st2t=29|total_st3t=225|electorate=12899139}}{{notelist-lr}}

By province

{{see|Results of the 2004 Sri Lankan general election by province}}

By electoral district

{{see|Results of the 2004 Sri Lankan general election by electoral district}}{| class="wikitable"! District! UNP! UPFA! Other! ValidVotes| Anuradhapura| 148,612 (39.9%)3 seats| 212,943 (57.2%)5 seats| JHU: 8,034 (2.2%)| 372,125| Badulla| 181,705 (49.1%)5 seats| 178,634 (48.3%)3 seats| JHU: 6,932 (1.9%)| 370,178| Batticaloa| 6,151 (2.5%)| 26,268 (10.9%)| ITAK: 161,011 (66.7%)4 seatsSLMC: 43,131 (17.9%)1 seat| 241,375| Colombo| 441,841 (41.8%)9 seats| 414,688 (39.2%)8 seats| JHU: 190,618 (18.0%)3 seats| 1,057,966| Digamadulla| 42,121 (14.5%)1 seat| 111,747 (38.5%)3 seats| SLMC: 76,563 (26.4%)2 seatsITAK: 55,533 (19.1%)1 seatEPDP: 1,611 (0.5%)JHU: 1,130 (0.4%)| 290,361| Galle| 209,399 (38.7%)4 seats| 306,385 (56.6%)6 seats| JHU: 22,826 (4.2%)| 541,511| Gampaha| 367,572 (37.1%)6 seats| 509,963 (51.5%)9 seats| JHU: 102,516 (19.4%)2 seats| 990,002| Hambantota| 98,877 (35.4%)2 seats| 178,895 (64.0)5 seats| JHU: 1,538 (0.5%)| 279,310| Jaffna| -| -| ITAK: 257,320 (90.6%)8 seatsEPDP: 18,612 (6.5%)1 seatSLMC: 1,995 (0.7%)| 284,026| Kaluthara| 212,721 (37.8%)3 seats| 291,208 (51.7%)6 seats| JHU: 56,615 (10.1)1 seat| 563,019| Kandy| 313,859 (50.0%)6 seats| 268,131 (42.7%)5 seats| JHU: 42,192 (6.7%)1 seat| 627,866| Kegalle| 186,641 (44.3%)4 seats| 214,267 (50.9%)5 seats| JHU: 18,034 (4.3%)| 421,131| Kurunegala| 340,768 (42.9%)7 seats| 412,157 (51.9%)9 seats| JHU: 37,459 (4.7%)| 793,647| Matale| 100,642 (45.7%)2 seats| 108,259 (49.2%)3 seats| JHU: 8,819 (4.0%)| 220,062| Matara| 139,633 (34.9%)3 seats| 241,235 (60.3%)5 seats| JHU: 16,229 (4.0%)| 400,233| Monaragala| 71,067 (37.0)2 seats| 117,456 (61.1%)3 seats| JHU: 2,675 (1.4%)| 192,113| Nuwara-Eliya| 176,971 (54.0%)4 seats| 82,945 (25.3%)2 seats| JHU: 4,454 (1.4%)Other: 63,239 (19.3%)1 seat| 327,609| Polonnaruwa| 75,664 (40.8%)2 seats| 106,243 (57.3%)3 seats| JHU: 2,413 (1.3%)| 185,261| Puttalam| 135,152 (46.6%)3 seats| 142,784 (49.3%)5 seats| JHU: 10,000 (3.4%)| 289,763| Ratnapura| 205,490 (41.8%)4 seats| 261,450 (53.1%)6 seats| JHU: 20,801 (4.2%)| 492,003| Trincomalee| 15,693 (8.6%)| 31,053 (17.0%)1 seat| ITAK: 68,955 (37.7%)2 seatsSLMC: 65,187 (35.7%)1 seatJHU: 791 (0.4%)EPDP: 540 (0.3%)| 182,794| Vanni| 33,621 (23.9%)1 seat| 7,259 (05.2%)| ITAK: 90,835 (64.7%)5 seatsEPDP: 1,097 (0.8%)| 140,377

Elected members

{{see|13th Sri Lankan Parliament}}

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{Reflist}}

• WEB,weblink Parliamentary General Election 2004 – All Island Result Composition of Parliament, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka, dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20120530050156weblink">weblink 2012-05-30,
• WEB,weblink Parliamentary General Election 2004 – All Island Result, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka, dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20121219233800weblink">weblink 2012-12-19,
• WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090107100926weblink">weblink dead, 2009-01-07, Parliamentary General Election 2004 – Final District Results, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka,
• WEB,weblink General Election 2004 Preferences, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100304015514weblink">weblink 2010-03-04,
• WEB,weblink 2004 General Election Results, LankaNewspapers.com,
• WEB,weblink Table 43 Parliamentary General Election (Electoral District) (2004), 10 February 2009, Sri Lanka Statistics,
• WEB,weblink Sri Lanka Parliamentary Chamber: Parliament Elections Held in 2004, Inter-Parliamentary Union,
• WEB,weblink 2004 - Parliamentary General Election, Manthree.com,
• WEB,weblink DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS OF 2 APRIL 2004, Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive,
• WEB,weblink DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS OF 2 APRIL 2004, Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive,

{{Sri Lankan elections}}