Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, nearly two years ahead of schedule. Incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa was the candidate of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance, seeking a third term in office after presidential term limits were abolished in 2010 by the 18th amendment to the constitution. The New Democratic Front, a United National Party-led opposition coalition, chose to field Maithripala Sirisena, former Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – the main constituent party of the UPFA – as its common opposition candidate.
Sirisena was declared the winner, receiving 51% of the vote compared to Rajapaksa's 48%. The result was generally seen as a major upset; when Rajapaksa called the election in November 2014 he had looked certain to win. On 11 January 2015, the new government announced a special investigation into allegations of an attempted coup by Rajapaksa.
Timeline
- 20 October – Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella confirms that the election will be held in January 2015.
- 5 November – Rajapaksa seeks the Supreme Court's opinion on whether he could stand for re-election.
- 20 November – Rajapaksa issues a proclamation calling for a presidential election at which he would seek re-election.
- 21 November – Sri Lanka Freedom Party general secretary Maithripala Sirisena defects to the opposition and announces that he will run against Rajapaksa in the upcoming election. Election commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya announces that nominations would be accepted on 8 December 2014 and that the election would be held on 8 January 2015.
- 8 December – The nomination period is opened by the Elections Department on 8 December 2014. All nominations are accepted.
- 23–24 December – Postal voting begins for two days.
- 8 January – Election day. Polling stations opened at 07:00 (01:30 UTC) and closed at 16:00 (10:30 UTC).
- 9 January – Rajapaksa concedes defeat ahead of the final result.
- 9 January – The election commissioner confirms Maithripala Sirisena's victory in the election at 12:00 (6:30 UTC).
- 9 January – Maithripala Sirsena is sworn in as Sri Lanka's sixth executive president, and seventh overall, before Supreme Court judge K. Sripavan in Independence Square, Colombo at 18:20 (12:50 UTC).
Background
According to the constitution, the normal term of office for a president is six years, although an incumbent serving a second term may call an election at any time after four years in office. In November 2009, buoyed by the government's defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa called an early presidential election. In the elections held in January 2010, Rajapaksa easily secured a second term in office, defeating common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka. In February 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that Rajapaksa's second term would begin in November 2010, and Rajapaksa was accordingly sworn in on 19 November 2010, in accordance with the Third Amendment to the Constitution.
In September 2010, parliament, which was controlled by Rajapaksa's UPFA, passed the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, removing the two term limit on presidents, allowing Rajapaksa to run for a third term. As a result, he was constitutionally eligible to call an early presidential election after completing four years of his term.
There was speculation in mid-2014 that Rajapaksa would call another early presidential election. On 20 October 2014, Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella confirmed that the election would be held in January 2015 as Rajapaksa would complete four years of his second term on 19 November 2014. Critics of Rajapaksa, including the Bar Association and former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, argued that he could not stand for re-election as he had won his second term before the eighteenth amendment to the constitution had been passed. In early November 2014, Rajapaksa sought the Supreme Court's opinion on whether he could stand for re-election. The court ruled that Rajapaksa could stand for re-election. The independence of the Supreme Court has been questioned, since the UPFA impeached former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, allowing Rajapaksa to appoint an ally and legal adviser, former Attorney General Mohan Peiris, as Chief Justice.
On 20 November 2014, Rajapaksa issued a proclamation calling for a presidential election at which he would seek re-election. The following day, election commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya announced that nominations would be taken on 8 December 2014 and that the election would be held on 8 January 2015. Nominations were accepted from 09:00 to 11:00 on 8 December 2014.
15,044,490 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote at the election. Postal voting was held on 23 and 24 December 2014. Foreign monitors were invited to observe the election but not from the United Nations.
Electoral system
The Sri Lankan president is elected using a form of instant-runoff voting. Voters can rank up to three candidates, and if no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, the second and third preference votes from ballots whose first preference candidate was eliminated are used to determine the winner. There are 12,314 polling stations in the 22 electoral districts.
Concurrent events
The election had caused uncertainty over the planned visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka, due to take place from 13 to 15 January 2015. Prior to the election being called, the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka had urged all sides not to politicise the papal visit. After the election had been called, posters appeared showing the Pope blessing Rajapaksa. The Catholic Church condemned the posters and called for their removal.
In the last two weeks of December 2014, the Central, Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka were hit by the worst floods since 1956, resulting in several deaths and the displacement of over one million people. Some local election monitoring groups expressed concerns that the displaced would be unable to vote at the election. However, the Election Commissioner said that no candidate, their representative or lawyers had complained and that there was no reason to postpone the election.
Candidates
Nineteen nominations were received from by the Elections Department on 8 December 2014, all of which were accepted. Seventeen candidates were from registered political parties and two were independents.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
The incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa ran as the UPFA candidate, seeking an unprecedented third term. He also received the endorsement of a number of small constituent parties of the UPFA including the Ceylon Workers' Congress, Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, National Freedom Front, National Union of Workers, and the Up-Country People's Front. On nomination day, two opposition MPs, Tissa Attanayake and Jayantha Ketagoda, defected to the government to support Rajapaksa. Attanayake was later appointed Minister of Health — the post previously held by Sirisena. Rajapaksa had also received the support of Buddhist extremist group Bodu Bala Sena.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya withdrew from UPFA government on 18 November 2014, citing Rajapaksa's refusal to reform the executive presidency and enact reforms to promote accountability. After much hesitation, the All Ceylon Muslim Congress and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also withdrew from the UPFA government, on 22 and 28 December 2014 respectively, blaming the government's failure to protect Sri Lankan Muslims from Sinhalese Buddhist extremists.
Rajapaksa released his manifesto, titled Mahinda's Vision — The World Winning Path, on 23 December 2014 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. In the manifesto, Rajapaksa pledges to introduce a new constitution within one year of being elected, but no abolition of the executive presidency — it will instead be amended and the "weakness" in the parliamentary system eliminated. A naval force and a special security force would be set up, with the help of the army, to tackle drug trafficking and other organised crime. The manifesto also pledges to establish a transparent, judicial inquiry into alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war, but Rajapaksa refused to co-operate with UN investigation.
Maithripala Sirisena
In the run up to the election being called, several names had been suggested for nomination as the common opposition candidate: former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya, former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and leader of the National Movement for Social Justice Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero. However, on 21 November 2014, after the election had been called, Maithripala Sirisena was revealed as the common opposition candidate by the UNP. Sirisena had been Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the SLFP before defecting to the opposition coalition. Sirisena immediately received the support of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and several UPFA MPs that had defected alongside him (Duminda Dissanayake, M. K. D. S. Gunawardena, Wasantha Senanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Rajiva Wijesinha). Sirisena and the other UPFA MPs were stripped of their ministerial positions and expelled from the SLFP. On 30 November, minister Navin Dissanayake resigned from the UPFA government and defected to the opposition to support Sirisena. Two deputy ministers, Palani Digambaran and Velusami Radhakrishnan, resigned from the UPFA government on 10 December 2014 to support Sirisena. Two other deputy ministers, Faiszer Musthapha and Nandimithra Ekanayake, resigned from the UPFA government on 31 December 2014 and 1 January 2015 respectively, to support Sirisena. Sirisena received the support of UPFA MP Achala Jagodage on 2 January 2015.
Sirisena pledged to abolish the executive presidency within 100 days of being elected, repeal the controversial eighteenth amendment, re-instate the seventeenth amendment and appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. On 1 December 2014, Sirisena signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 36 opposition parties and civic groups promising to abolish the executive presidency, hold parliamentary elections, form an all-party national government and carry out various political reforms. Signatories to the MOU included the UNP, Sarath Fonseka's Democratic Party, Democratic People's Front, Azath Salley's Muslim Tamil National Alliance, Free Media Movement, Federation of University Teachers Association as well as dissident groups of the LSSP and Communist Party. The following day, the JHU announced that it would support Sirisena in the presidential election. On 30 December 2014 the Tamil National Alliance, the largest political party representing the Sri Lankan Tamil people, endorsed Sirisena.
Sirisena contested as a New Democratic Front (NDF) candidate under its swan symbol, just as common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka had done in the previous election.
Sirisena released his manifesto, titled A Compassionate Maithri Governance — A Stable Country, on 19 December 2014 during a rally at Viharamahadevi Park. The main pledge in his manifesto was the replacement of the executive presidency with a Westminster style cabinet, but the manifesto acknowledged that Sirisena would need the support of the parliament to amend the constitution. The manifesto also makes a commitment to replace the open list proportional representation system with a mixture of first-past-the-post and PR for electing MPs. Independent commissions would be established to oversee the judiciary, police, elections department, Auditor-General's Department and Attorney-General's Department. The Commission on Bribery and Corruption would be strengthened and political diplomatic appointments annulled. Populist measures in the manifesto included a commitment to write-off 50% of farmers' loans, reduce fuel prices by removing taxes and a salary increase of Rs.10,000 for public servants. Public spending on health would increase from 1.8% of GDP to 3% of GDP whilst that on education would increase from 1.7% of GDP to 6% of GDP. The manifesto also stated that the casino licences granted to Kerry Packer's Crown Resort and John Keells Holdings's Water Front would be cancelled. Political victims during Rajapaks's rule, such as Sarath Fonseka and Shirani Bandaranayake, would be re-appointed.
In a separate document, Sirisena pledged that, whilst resisting any international investigation, he would establish an independent domestic inquiry into the alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war.
Minor candidates
The remaining seventeen candidates were from minor political parties or independents.