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| Turnout | 55.32% ( 25.74 pp) | ||||||||||||||||
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 Winners of polling divisions. Premadasa in green, Bandaranaike in blue and Abeygunasekera in red. | |||||||||||||||||
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The 1988 Sri Lankan presidential election was the 2nd presidential election, held on 19 December 1988. Nominations were accepted on 10 November 1988. Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa of the governing United National Party was elected, receiving 50.4% of all votes cast and defeating both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate, former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya candidate, Ossie Abeygunasekera.
The election was held amidst both the Sri Lankan Civil War and the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection. Voter turnout was only 55.32%, substantially lower than the previous election and the lowest turnout for a Sri Lankan presidential election.
Background
Under the Provisions of the Constitution, the president is elected to a six-year term and the president can call for an early presidential election after completing four years of his first term. As then-incumbent president J. R. Jayawardene was barred from seeking a third term, he decided not to call for an early election. Therefore, the election was due to be held in late 1988.
During the 1988 election, Sri Lanka was in chaos. In the north and east, soldiers of the Indian Peace Keeping Force battled Tamil Tiger rebels. In the south, government death squads engaged in deadly violence with equally brutal militants of the Sinhala-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Effective campaigning for both the government and opposition was barely possible.
Both major party candidates promised to abrogate the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord negotiated by outgoing president J. R. Jayewardene and would ask Indian troops to leave the country.
Voting was not held in the LTTE-controlled areas of the north and east.
Results
Despite the looming threat of the JVP insurgents, UNP candidate Ranasinghe Premadasa won a narrow but firm victory.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranasinghe Premadasa | United National Party | 2,569,199 | 50.43 | |
| Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 2,289,860 | 44.95 | |
| Ossie Abeygunasekera | Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya | 235,719 | 4.63 | |
| Total | 5,094,778 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 5,094,778 | 98.24 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 91,445 | 1.76 | ||
| Total votes | 5,186,223 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 9,375,742 | 55.32 | ||
| Source: Election Commission | ||||
References
- "Presidential Election - 19.12.1988" (PDF). Election Commission of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
- "1988 Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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