2012 Sri Lankan provincial council elections explained

Election Name:	6th Sri Lankan provincial council election
Country:	Sri Lanka
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	Sri Lanka Provincial Council elections, 2008–2009
Previous Year:	2008/09
Next Election:	2013 Sri Lankan provincial council election
Next Year:	2013
Seats For Election:	114 seats across 3 provincial councils
Election Date:	8 September 2012
Turnout:	64.10%
1Blank:	Councillors
2Blank:	Councils
Leader1:	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Party1:	United People's Freedom Alliance
Home State1:	n/a
Popular Vote1:	1,027,310
Percentage1:	51.05%
1Data1:	63
2Data1:	2
Leader2:	Ranil Wickremasinghe
Party2:	United National Party
Home State2:	n/a
Popular Vote2:	557,885
Percentage2:	27.72%
1Data2:	29
2Data2:	0
Leader4:	R. Sampanthan
Party4:	Tamil National Alliance
Home State4:	n/a
Popular Vote4:	193,827
Percentage4:	9.63%
1Data4:	11
2Data4:	0
Leader5:	Rauff Hakeem
Color5:	007B48
Party5:	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
Home State5:	n/a
Popular Vote5:	132,917
Percentage5:	6.61%
1Data5:	7
2Data5:	0
Map Size:	250px

Provincial council elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 September 2012 to elect 114 members to three of the nine provincial councils in the country. 3.3 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election. Elections for the Northern Provincial Council, which had been governed directly by the national government since it was demerged from the North Eastern Provincial Council in January 2007, are overdue but the government has not set a date. Elections to the remaining five provincial councils are not due till 2014 as they had their last election in 2009.

The United People's Freedom Alliance's domination of Sri Lankan elections continued as expected. It retained control of two provincial councils (North Central and Sabaragamuwa) but lost overall control in the other provincial council (Eastern), although it was the largest group.

Background

See also: Provinces of Sri Lanka. In an attempt to end the Sri Lankan Civil War the Indo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987. One of the requirements of the accord was that the Sri Lankan government to devolve powers to the provinces.^[1] Accordingly on 14 November 1987 the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987.^[2] ^[3] On 3 February 1988 nine provincial councils were created by order.^[4] The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in North Central, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva provinces.^[5] On 2 June 1988 elections were held for provincial councils for Central, Southern and Western provinces. The United National Party (UNP), which was in power nationally, won control of all seven provincial councils.

The Indo-Lanka Accord also required the merger of the Eastern and Northern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his discretion.^[1] On September 2 and 8 1988 President Jayewardene issued proclamations enabling the Eastern and Northern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected council, creating the North Eastern Province.^[4] Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were held on 19 November 1988. The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, an Indian backed paramilitary group, won control of the North Eastern provincial council.

On 1 March 1990, just as the Indian Peace Keeping Force were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Annamalai Varatharajah Perumal, Chief Minister of the North Eastern Province, moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council declaring an independent Eelam.^[6] President Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province.

The 2nd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1993 in seven provinces. The UNP retained control of six provincial councils but lost control of the largest provincial council, Western, to the opposition People's Alliance. A special election was held in Southern Province in 1994 after some UNP provincial councillors defected to the opposition. The PA won the election and took control of the Southern Provincial Council.

The 3rd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1999 in seven provinces. The PA, which was now in power nationally, managed to win the majority of seats in two provinces (North Central and North Western). It was also able to form a majority administration in the other five provinces with the support of smaller parties such as the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) . The UNP regained control of the Central Provincial Council in 2002 after the CWC councillors crossed over to the opposition.^[7]

The 4th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2004 in seven provinces. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the successor to the PA, won all seven provinces.

The 5th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2008/09 in eight provinces. The UPFA won all eight provinces.

Results

Overall

The UPFA won control of two provincial councils (North Central and North Central). There was no overall control in the other provincial council (Eastern) but the UPFA was the largest group.

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats	Councils
bgcolor=		United People's Freedom Alliance All Ceylon Muslim Congress Ceylon Workers' Congress^[8] Communist Party of Sri Lanka^[9] Eelam People's Democratic Party Jathika Hela Urumaya Lanka Sama Samaja Party^[10] Mahajana Eksath Peramuna National Congress National Freedom Front^[11] Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress^[12] Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal	1,027,310	51.05%	63	2
bgcolor=			557,885	27.72%	29	0
bgcolor=		Tamil National Alliance^[13] Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization Tamil United Liberation Front	193,827	9.63%	11	0
bgcolor=			132,917	6.61%	7	0
bgcolor=		Ceylon Workers' Congress Ceylon Workers' Congress Democratic People's Front Up-Country People's Front	25,985	1.29%	2	0
bgcolor=			31,384	1.56%	1	0
bgcolor=			9,522	0.47%	1	0
		23,625	1.17%	0	0
bgcolor=			2,693	0.13%	0	0
	Socialist Alliance Communist Party of Sri Lanka Democratic Left Front Lanka Sama Samaja Party	2,480	0.12%	0	0
	United Lanka People's Party	595	0.03%	0	0
		485	0.02%	0	0
	All Lanka Tamil United Front	460	0.02%	0	0
		449	0.02%	0	0
	United Lanka Great Council	597	0.03%	0	0
	Jana Setha Peramuna	398	0.02%	0	0
	Patriotic National Front	334	0.02%	0	0
bgcolor=			286	0.01%	0	0
	Ruhuna People's Party	204	0.01%	0	0
	National Development Front	203	0.01%	0	0
	Our National Front	163	0.01%	0	0
		148	0.01%	0	0
	All Are Citizens, All Are Kings Organisation	145	0.01%	0	0
		86	0.00%	0	0
		74	0.00%	0	0
	Muslim Liberation Front	57	0.00%	0	0
No overall control	1
Valid Votes	2,012,312	100.00%	114	3
Rejected Votes	126,427
Total Polled	2,138,739
Registered Electors	3,336,417
Turnout	64.10%
align=left colspan=7	Source:^[14]

Eastern Province

Results of the 2nd Eastern Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[15]

valign=bottom rowspan=2 colspan=2 width="300"	Alliances and parties !										valign=bottom rowspan=2 width="40"	Bonus Seats !	Total
align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats
bgcolor=			92,530	33.66%	5	64,190	31.17%	4	43,324	28.38%	3	2	200,044	31.58%	14
bgcolor=			44,749	16.28%	2	104,682	50.83%	6	44,396	29.08%	3	0	193,827	30.59%	11
bgcolor=			83,658	30.43%	4	23,083	11.21%	1	26,176	17.15%	2	0	132,917	20.98%	7
bgcolor=			48,028	17.47%	3	2,434	1.18%	0	24,439	16.01%	1	0	74,901	11.82%	4
		1,178	0.43%	0	9,019	4.38%	0	2,164	1.42%	0	0	12,361	1.95%	0
								9,522	6.24%	1	0	9,522	1.50%	1
bgcolor=			2,305	0.84%	0	72	0.03%	0	777	0.51%	0	0	3,154	0.50%	0
bgcolor=			531	0.19%	0	1,777	0.86%	0	385	0.25%	0	0	2,693	0.43%	0
	Socialist Alliance	1,489	0.54%	0	379	0.18%	0	612	0.40%	0	0	2,480	0.39%	0
	All Lanka Tamil United Front	76	0.03%	0				384	0.25%	0	0	460	0.07%	0
		103	0.04%	0	37	0.02%	0	149	0.10%	0	0	289	0.05%	0
		111	0.04%	0	50	0.02%	0	107	0.07%	0	0	268	0.04%	0
	Our National Front				163	0.08%	0				0	163	0.03%	0
	United Lanka Great Council	10	0.00%	0	15	0.01%	0	97	0.06%	0	0	122	0.02%	0
	United Lanka People's Party	74	0.03%	0	16	0.01%	0				0	90	0.01%	0
	Jana Setha Peramuna	31	0.01%	0	19	0.01%	0	35	0.02%	0	0	85	0.01%	0
	Patriotic National Front	7	0.00%	0				78	0.05%	0	0	85	0.01%	0
	Muslim Liberation Front	42	0.02%	0				15	0.01%	0	0	57	0.01%	0
	Ruhuna People's Party	13	0.00%	0				3	0.00%	0	0	16	0.00%	0
Valid Votes	274,935	100.00%	14	205,936	100.00%	11	152,663	100.00%	10	2	633,534	100.00%	37
Rejected Votes	16,744			17,223			11,324				45,291
Total Polled	291,679			223,159			163,987				678,825
Registered Electors	441,287			347,099			245,363				1,033,749
Turnout	66.10%			64.29%			66.83%				65.67%

North Central Province

Results of the 6th North Central Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[16]

valign=bottom rowspan=2 colspan=2 width="300"	Alliances and parties !							valign=bottom rowspan=2 width="40"	Bonus Seats !	Total
align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats
bgcolor=			234,387	62.71%	13	104,165	58.15%	6	2	338,552	61.23%	21
bgcolor=			126,184	33.76%	7	69,943	39.04%	4	0	196,127	35.47%	11
bgcolor=			11,684	3.13%	1	4,382	2.45%	0	0	16,066	2.91%	1
		912	0.24%	0	272	0.15%	0	0	1,184	0.21%	0
	United Lanka People's Party	226	0.06%	0				0	226	0.04%	0
	Jana Setha Peramuna	178	0.05%	0	42	0.02%	0	0	220	0.04%	0
					196	0.11%	0	0	196	0.04%	0
	United Lanka Great Council	53	0.01%	0	91	0.05%	0	0	144	0.03%	0
		54	0.01%	0	20	0.01%	0	0	74	0.01%	0
	Patriotic National Front	53	0.01%	0	19	0.01%	0	0	72	0.01%	0
	Ruhuna People's Party	51	0.01%	0	16	0.01%	0	0	67	0.01%	0
Valid Votes	373,782	100.00%	21	179,146	100.00%	10	2	552,928	100.00%	33
Rejected Votes	18,218			9,792				28,010
Total Polled	392,000			188,938				580,938
Registered Electors	606,508			294,365				900,873
Turnout	64.63%			64.18%				64.49%

Sabaragamuwa Province

Results of the 6th Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[17]

valign=bottom rowspan=2 colspan=2 width="300"	Alliances and parties !							valign=bottom rowspan=2 width="40"	Bonus Seats !	Total
align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	Votes !	align=center valign=bottom width="50"	% !	align=center valign=bottom width="40"	Seats
bgcolor=			213,734	58.08%	11	274,980	60.06%	15	2	488,714	59.18%	28
bgcolor=			130,417	35.44%	6	156,440	34.17%	8	0	286,857	34.73%	14
bgcolor=			8,971	2.44%	1	17,014	3.72%	1	0	25,985	3.15%	2
bgcolor=			4,519	1.23%	0	7,645	1.67%	0	0	12,164	1.47%	0
		9,356	2.54%	0	724	0.16%	0	0	10,080	1.22%	0
	United Lanka Great Council	239	0.06%	0	92	0.02%	0	0	331	0.04%	0
bgcolor=			87	0.02%	0	199	0.04%	0	0	286	0.03%	0
	United Lanka People's Party				279	0.06%	0	0	279	0.03%	0
	National Development Front	203	0.06%	0				0	203	0.02%	0
	Patriotic National Front	106	0.03%	0	71	0.02%	0	0	177	0.02%	0
					148	0.03%	0	0	148	0.02%	0
	All Are Citizens, All Are Kings Organisation	70	0.02%	0	75	0.02%	0	0	145	0.02%	0
	Ruhuna People's Party	46	0.01%	0	75	0.02%	0	0	121	0.01%	0
		70	0.02%	0	37	0.01%	0	0	107	0.01%	0
	Jana Setha Peramuna	93	0.03%	0				0	93	0.01%	0
		86	0.02%	0				0	86	0.01%	0
					74	0.02%	0	0	74	0.01%	0
Valid Votes	367,997	100.00%	18	457,853	100.00%	24	2	825,850	100.00%	44
Rejected Votes	29,065			24,061				53,126
Total Polled	397,062			481,914				878,976
Registered Electors	631,981			769,814				1,401,795
Turnout	62.83%			62.60%				62.70%

Notes and References

Web site: Indo Sri Lanka Agreement, 1987. TamilNation.
Web site: Introduction. Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka. Government of Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090707214924/http://www.priu.gov.lk/ProvCouncils/ProvicialCouncils.html. 2009-07-07.
Web site: Amendments to the 1978 Constitution. Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka. Government of Sri Lanka. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090817113810/http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/AMENDMENTS.html. 2009-08-17.
News: North-East merger illegal: SC . 17 October 2006. LankaNewspapers.com.
Web site: Ethnic Conflict of Sri Lanka: Time Line - From Independence to 1999. International Centre for Ethnic Studies9. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091212123102/http://www.ices.lk/sl_database/ethnic_conflict/time_line.shtml. 2009-12-12.
News: I'm no traitor, says Perumal. Ferdinando. Shamindra. 10 September 2000. Sunday Island (Sri Lanka). dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090501173226/http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/features/20000912no_traitor.htm. 1 May 2009.
News: Sri Nissanka. Jayantha. Central Provincial Council : UNF takes over. Daily News (Sri Lanka). 30 April 2002. 9 September 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121014214606/http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/04/30/new06.html. 14 October 2012. dead. dmy-all.
The Ceylon Workers' Congress contested with the Democratic People's Front and Up-Country People's Front in two electoral districts and with the UPFA in other electoral districts.
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka contested with the Socialist Alliance in three electoral districts and with the UPFA in other electoral districts.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party contested with the Socialist Alliance in three electoral districts and with the UPFA in other electoral districts.
The National Freedom Front contested separately in one electoral district and with the UPFA in other electoral districts.
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress contested separately in three electoral districts and with the UPFA in other electoral districts.
The TNA contested under and symbol of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi.
Web site: Provincial Council Elections 2012. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
Web site: Provincial Council Elections 2012: Eastern Province. https://web.archive.org/web/20130621001141/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/2012PPC/eppc.htm. dead. 2013-06-21. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
Web site: Provincial Council Elections 2012: North Central Province. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
Web site: Provincial Council Elections 2012: Sabaragamuwa Province. Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.