2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election


Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on December 5, 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000.

Background

The People's Alliance government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition. President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition. A no-confidence motion was prepared; to forestall this, Kumaratunga called the election.
More than 1,300 incidents of election violence were reported during the campaign. . Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. Overall, 60 people were killed in election-related violence, including 14 on polling day.

Parties

Kumaratunga's People's Alliance lost the resulting general election, which saw the United National Front win the legislative power. The UNP's leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe, became the new prime minister.
Having a President and Prime Minister from different parties proved to be unstable, and Parliament was dissolved again in 2004, leading to yet another general election.

Summary

Summary of the 2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:left;" rowspan=2 colspan=2|Alliances and parties !! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:center;" rowspan=2|Votes !! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:center;" rowspan=2|% !! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:center;" colspan=3|Seats
! style="text-align:center;" |District !! style="text-align:center;" |National !! style="text-align:center;" |Total
Results of the 2001 Sri Lankan general election by province

Electoral District

Results of the 2001 Sri Lankan general election by electoral district

Elected members