Parliamentary elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
were held in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to
Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters.
The incumbent
Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance coalition claimed a landslide victory in the election, winning 145 seats, while
Samagi Jana Balawegaya
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (, ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சக்தி, "United People's Power") is a political alliance that is led by the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa. The alliance was formed with the appr ...
won 54 seats, Tamil National Alliance won 10 seats and
National People's Power
National People's Power (NPP), or Jathika Jana Balawegaya, is an electoral coalition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 2015 by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
It consists of 28 political parties and ot ...
won 3 seats. The main opposition
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
suffered the worst showing in its history following a split over party leadership, finishing in fourth place with only one seat.
The election was postponed at least twice due to a surge in
COVID-19 cases in the country, before the date was finalized as 5 August 2020. Prior to the election, a
coronavirus-proof mock election was conducted by the Election Commission in June 2020 as a trial run in order to comply with health guidelines.
Initial reports revealed that the overall voter turnout was estimated at 70%, comparatively less than the turnout during the
2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19. Vote counting started on 6 August 2020 at around 9am. The new parliament is expected to reconvene on 20 August 2020.
In November 2018, the date was briefly moved forward by more than a year to 5 January 2019 after President
Maithripala Sirisena
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி ...
dissolved parliament during
a constitutional crisis and called for a snap election.
The Supreme Court later suspended the dissolution and ordered a halt to the snap election, effectively moving the election's date back to 2020.
Electoral system
The Parliament has 225 members, elected for a five-year term. 196 members are elected in 22 multi-seat
constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
through a
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
system where each party is allocated a number of seats from the quota for each district according to the proportion of the total vote that party obtains in the district. The other 29 are elected from the national list, with list members appointed by each party secretary according to the island wide proportional vote the party obtains.
Contesting parties
The main parties and alliances contesting in the election included the alliance of Sri Lankan president
Gotabaya Rajapakse
Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa ( si, නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; ta, நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan military ...
, the ruling
Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance (SLPFA), the main opposition
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
(UNP) of
Ranil Wickremasinghe
Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...
,
Samagi Jana Balawegaya
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (, ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சக்தி, "United People's Power") is a political alliance that is led by the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa. The alliance was formed with the appr ...
(SJB) of
Sajith Premadasa
Sajith Premadasa, MP ( si, සජිත් ප්රේමදාස, ta, சஜித் பிரேமதாச; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and Member of Par ...
, former opposition TNA of
R. Sampanthan and
National People's Power
National People's Power (NPP), or Jathika Jana Balawegaya, is an electoral coalition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 2015 by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
It consists of 28 political parties and ot ...
(NPP) of
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka Anura may refer to:
Biology
* Anura (frog), the order for frogs
* ''Anura'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family
People
Anura is a common given name in Sri Lanka
* Anura Bandaranaike (1949–2008), Sri Lankan politician
* A ...
. President Gotabaya was previously elected president in November 2019.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya, a breakaway faction from the United National Party, was formed by Sajith Premadasa in February 2020 following a rift and creative differences between Sajith and Ranil Wickremasinghe regarding the leadership of the UNP. The party itself claimed a position as a main opposition party prior to the election despite being newly formed.
Development
On 19 March 2020, Chairman of the Election Commission
Mahinda Deshapriya
Waduge Warunasiri Mahinda Deshapriya ( si, මහින්ද දේශප්රිය) is a former Chairman of Election Commission of Sri Lanka. On 30 November 2019, he informed the speaker of parliament that he would resign from the post and t ...
revealed that the election would be postponed indefinitely due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The Sri Lankan government initially insisted that scheduled forthcoming the election would proceed as planned on 25 April despite the
COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
The COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 () virus. The first case of the virus in Sri Lanka was c ...
, and the authorities banned election rallies and meetings. During the video conference with SAARC leaders, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa initially confirmed that the parliamentary elections would be held as scheduled. Even with the president's comments holding the elections as scheduled, the Election Commission in Sri Lanka put off the date to 20 June 2020, using its powers. This created a crisis between the president's office and the Constitution, and the matter went to the courts.
On 10 June 2020, Election Commissioner
Mahinda Deshapriya
Waduge Warunasiri Mahinda Deshapriya ( si, මහින්ද දේශප්රිය) is a former Chairman of Election Commission of Sri Lanka. On 30 November 2019, he informed the speaker of parliament that he would resign from the post and t ...
confirmed that the postponed parliamentary elections would be held on 5 August 2020 with strict health measures and guidelines.
According to various sources, vote turnout initially had a slow start, mainly due to the virus fears, but started to pick up gradually in late morning. This was the first Sri Lankan general election held amid a disease outbreak; the Election Commission recommended that voters bring their own blue or black
ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen (Nepali) is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". ...
in order to make the proceedings easier along with precautionary distancing guidelines. The authorities also required that voters wear face masks and use
hand sanitizer upon entering and exiting polling stations.
On election day, Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya cast his vote by visiting the polling station rather than opting for a postal vote. This also marked his first voting appearance in a polling station in nine years. Approximately 82,000 security personnel and more than 60,000 health officials were deployed during the election. The
Colombo Stock Exchange
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) ( si, කොළඹ ව්යාපාර වස්තු හුවමාරුව, translit=Kolamba Vyapara Vasthu Huvamaruva; ta, கொழும்பு பங்கு பரிவர்த்தனை) i ...
was closed early at around 12:30pm.
Exit poll opinions
Initial exit poll reports and opinions stated that the ruling SLPFA were favourites to emerge victorious in the elections, mainly owing to the predominant success in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the negative publicity about the UNP-led government, which was accused of a major intelligence failure which was triggered by the aftermath of the
2019 Easter attacks.
Election campaigns
The candidates were reported to have spent 2.2 billion rupees during the election campaign, with SJB being reported to have spent a higher amount compared to other parties. Campaigns were mostly arranged by the candidates on social media platforms such as
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, due to the ban on public gatherings owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, UNP became the first party to launch the digital election campaign.
Sri Lanka's treasury department issued 8.5 billion rupees to the election department for election expenditures. In July 2020, President Gotabaya of SLPFA was awarded the
Zero carbon certificate for conducting his election campaign representing SLPFA in eco-friendly manner. His election campaign also became the first zero carbon election campaign in the world.
SLPP's political campaign was primarily based on economic revival as well making changes to the constitution, including amending the
Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, controversially passed following the 2015 parliamentary election. Rajapaksa brothers were critical of the 19th amendment as it reduced the major powers of the executive President.
All election campaigns were restricted on 2 August 2020 by the Election Commissioner.
Timeline
;2018
* 9 November 2018 – President Maithripala Sirisena dissolves parliament and calls general elections to be held on 5 January 2019.
* 13 December 2018 – The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled unanimously that President Maithripala Sirisena's order to dissolve Parliament and hold new elections was unconstitutional.
* 16 December 2018 – Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn back in as Prime Minister after the Supreme Court ruled that Mahinda Rajapaksa can not act as Prime Minister.
;2019
* 21 November 2019 – Incumbent Prime Minister
Ranil Wickramasinghe
Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...
resigns and President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa appoints his brother
Mahinda Rajapakse
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
as the new Prime Minister.
;2020
* 30 January 2020 –
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
working committee approves
Leader of Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Sajith Premadasa
Sajith Premadasa, MP ( si, සජිත් ප්රේමදාස, ta, சஜித் பிரேமதாச; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and Member of Par ...
as its Prime Minister candidate.
* 10 February 2020 – Leader of the opposition
Sajith Premadasa
Sajith Premadasa, MP ( si, සජිත් ප්රේමදාස, ta, சஜித் பிரேமதாச; born 12 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the current Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka and Member of Par ...
forms a new alliance called
Samagi Jana Balawegaya
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (, ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சக்தி, "United People's Power") is a political alliance that is led by the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa. The alliance was formed with the appr ...
following the rift between him and United National Party leader Ranil Wickremasinghe due to political creative differences.
* 17 February 2020 – Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance registered under the leadership of
Mahinda Rajapaksa and
Maithripala Sirisena
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி ...
named as chairperson.
* 3 March 2020 – The President dissolved Parliament, with elections set on 25 April 2020 and the nomination period ending 18 March.
* 19 March 2020 – Election Commission postpones the elections without announcing a new date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* 3 April 2020 – Elections Commission write to the president asking him to see advise for a new date or make an alternative since they are unable to hold the elections as per the Gazette.
* 9 April 2020 – President's Secretary PB Jayasundara response to the commission that president will not get any advice from the courts on the elections, and it is the commissions' responsibility to hold the elections, warning of Constitutional Crisis.
* 20 April 2020 – Election Commission of Sri Lanka declared 20 June 2020 as the date of elections, after a member of commission Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole object to hold the election on 28 May 2020 with the government influence.
* 5 May 2020 – Newspaper editor Victor Ivan and seven others filed a Fundamental Rights petition in Supreme Court seeking an order quashing the Extraordinary Gazette notification declaring the General Election on 20 June.
* 6 May 2020 –
Samagi Jana Balawegaya
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (, ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சக்தி, "United People's Power") is a political alliance that is led by the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa. The alliance was formed with the appr ...
files a Fundamental Rights petition challenging the Gazette notification issued by the Elections Commission declaring the General Election to be held on 20 June.
* 9 May 2020 –
Champika Ranawaka
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka ( Sinhala: පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක; born 4 August 1965) is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and Far-right politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana ...
of
Jathika Hela Urumaya
The Jathika Hela Urumaya ( si, ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය, ta, ஈழ மக்கள் கழகம், often approximated in English as National Heritage Party) is a nationalist political party in Sri Lanka. The JHU was launched ...
and
Kumara Welgama
Kumara Welgama ( si, කුමාර වෙල්ගම) (born 5 April 1950) is a Sri Lankan politician and a current member of parliament for the Kalutara District. Welgama had been a minister of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the past. Since 20 ...
of New Sri Lanka Freedom Party files Fundamental Rights petition challenging the Gazette notification issued by the Elections Commission declaring the General Election to be held on 20 June.
* 18 May 2020 – Supreme Court's five-member judge bench started hearing 8 petitions against the 20 June general election date.
* 20 May 2020 – Elections Commission inform the Supreme court that 20 June fix date is no longer a possible date for the election.
/ref>
* 22 May 2020 – Attorney General requests the supreme court to dismiss petitions submitted in relation to the general election without hearings.
* 2 June 2020 – The Supreme Court dismissed all Fundamental Rights petitions filed and denied granting leave to proceed with all petitions.
* 10 June 2020 – Election Commission announces 5 August 2020 as the new date of elections.
* 30 July 2020 – All election campaigning and propaganda activities for the Parliamentary Election 2020 must end at midnight on 2 August, the Elections Commission announced.
* 10 August 2020 Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that the Subject Ministers and State Ministers are scheduled to be sworn in at the Magul Maduwa on 12 August 2020.
Background
During the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis, constitutional crisis in 2018, Sirisena dissolved parliament and ordered a snap election after his nominee for Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, failed to gain a majority in Parliament to back his nomination.
However, after the constitutionality of the dissolution was challenged before Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, the dissolution was suspended, and the snap election was put on hold while the court case was ongoing. On 13 December 2018, the Supreme Court ruled the dissolution of the parliament unconstitutional, moving the election back to its original date.
On 19 March 2020, the Election Commission postponed the elections without announcing a new date due to the COVID−19 pandemic. On 20 May 2020, the Election Commission informed that the Supreme Court clarified a fix date 20 June 2020 for the election. On 10 June 2020, Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya confirmed that the postponed parliamentary elections were to be held on 5 August 2020. On 17 July 2020, the issued a gazette regarding the health guidelines for the election after a long delay.
COVID-19
On 19 March 2020, Sri Lanka reported an increase in cases from the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, but the government went ahead with nominations for the election until 18 March 2020. On 19 March, soon after the nominations ended, the Elections Commission with its powers postponed the elections. The proposed date which was initially mentioned as 25 April 2020 was pushed back until 20 June 2020 due to the virus outbreak, and was later postponed further to its final date. Sri Lanka also joined countries such as Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
to have held the elections in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka is also the first South Asian nation to hold elections in the middle of the pandemic.
The health authorities also made special arrangements regarding the safety of the voters by disinfecting the polling station including the internal and external booths of the station with sanitizers prior to the election.
Election violations
Around 340 minor incidents were reported regarding the election violations according to the survey of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence. It reported around 167 cases of illegal campaigning, 59 cases of intimidation, 24 cases of illegal poster cutouts and some cases regarding health guidelines violations. SLPFA party recorded the highest number of complaints around 161, while SJB recorded complaints of 40 and 18 complaints were recorded against the UNP.
Alleged manipulation attempts
Candidate Sashikala Raviraj accused Jaffna District candidate M. A. Sumanthiran who was representing Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lan ...
of misconduct during the preference vote count in the Jaffna District and being seated inside the vote counting centre after the conclusion of the parliamentary election in contrast to the regulations as candidates are restricted from entering the counting centre during the process of counting votes after the election. However Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) noted that the claims of manipulation are false and is driven by social media misinformation and ignorance of the counting process. Sumanthiran denied the accusations noting that counting is done at different locations and brought to the electoral district's primary counting centre and that counting booth has agents from all parties who must provide their verification and agreement for the results to be finalised. Sumanthiran revealed that he was at his house during the counting and was not present in any counting centre and only visited the announcement area when the results were going to be released and that other candidates including Sashikala Raviraj were also present and spoke with the Returning Officer.
Allegations of unlawful action against the UNP
The SJB accused the head of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, of attempting to save his seat in the parliament through preference votes and SJB claimed that the UNP didn't attain at least 5% of the total votes in order to secure a national seat in the parliament.
Electoral system
196 MPs were elected from 22 multi-member electoral districts
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
using the D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
with an open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...
, a proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
system (with a ''de facto'' threshold that is on average 11%). The remaining 29 seats were allocated to contesting parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
and independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
groups in proportion to their share of the national vote. The electoral commission announced that voters can vote for one main party and can cast votes to a maximum of 3 individuals as preferential votes.
Results
The first official results were released on 6 August 2020 in the afternoon starting with the postal votes in the Galle District
Galle ( si, ගාල්ල දිස්ත්රික්කය ''gālla distrikkaya''; ta, காலி மாவட்டம் ''Kāli māvattam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, th ...
.
The SLPFA became the largest group in Parliament after securing 59.09% of votes and 145 seats, winning in 18 electoral districts, whilst the main opposition SJB won 23.90% of votes and 54 seats. The SLPFA managed to exceed the majority cutoff of 113, obtaining 128 seats from districts and 17 seats from the national list, for a total of 145 seats. The result is expected to further increase the influence the Rajapaksa family has over Sri Lankan politics, and the SLPFA only requires five seats from collaborating smaller parties to reach the majority needed to enact constitutional changes, including some that may overturn amendments enacted in 2015 (which included strengthening the role of Parliament and the Prime Minister, as well as putting independent commissions in charge of judiciary appointments, police, public services and the conduct of elections). A total of four other members of the Rajapaksa family (aside from Mahinda) were elected as MPs, including his son Namal, his eldest brother Chamal and his son Sashindra, and his nephew, Nipuna Ranawaka. The SJB, which received second highest number of votes and seats in the election, is set to dethrone the UNP as the main opposition party of the country despite being newly formed following a split over disagreements on party leadership. Parties aligned with the Tamil minority lost a few seats, likely weakening their influence and putting into doubt any progress toward their desire for autonomy within a federal state
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...
.
The Election Commission revealed that Mahinda Rajapaksa received the highest number of preferential votes during the election with 527,364 votes.
By district
Swearing-in
Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for the fourth time on 9 August 2020 at Kelaniya Temple on the outskirts of Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
.
International reactions
Nations
* – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
phoned Mahinda Rajapaksa and congratulated his party for the election win.
* – The US embassy issued a statement congratulating the SLPP for the victory and praised the smooth as well as peaceful conduct of the election.
* – Prime Minister of Vietnam congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – Prime Minister of Nepal congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – President of Maldives congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – Prime Minister of Bangladesh congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – Prime Minister of Russia congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – Prime Minister of Singapore congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa
* – President of Iran congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksha
Notes
References
External links
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*
{{Parliament of Sri Lanka
August 2020 events in Asia
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
2020 in Sri Lanka