Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only 82 seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this is eight seats short of a majority, it seems likely that the Alliance will be able to form a government.
On 6 April President Chandrika Kumaratunga commissioned Mahinda Rajapakse, a former Labour Minister, as Prime Minister.
The United People's Freedom Alliance is a coalition of parties led by President Kumaratunga's party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Other parties in the Alliance are the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Democratic United National Front, the Lanka Equal Society Party and the Sri Lanka People's Party.
At this election the Alliance also included the People's United Liberation Front (JVP), an extreme left party which contested the 2001 election as a separate party, winning 9.1% of the vote and 16 seats. At this election it is reported than as many as 39 JVP members won seats as Freedom Alliance candidates.
Other parties winning seats were the Buddhist party National Sinhala Heritage (Jathika Hela Urumaya, JHU), the Tamil nationalist party, the Lanka Tamil State Party (Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, ITAK), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP).
Sri Lanka's Elections Commissioner 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 and allegations of fraud in the North, the election was calm and orderly.
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