Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 November 2019. Incumbent president Maithripala Sirisena did not run for a second term. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and was endorsed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Sajith Premadasa, son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa and deputy leader of the United National Party was the candidate of the ruling party.
The results were announced on 17 November 2019. Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, receiving 52% of the vote compared his main opponent Premadasa's 42%. The results of the election subsequently brought the Rajapaksa family back to power after a 5-year interregnum.
Sirisena's term of office would have ended on 9 January 2020. This was the first presidential election in Sri Lanka where no sitting president, prime minister or opposition leader ran for president.
Electoral system
The President of Sri Lanka is elected via limited ranked voting. Voters can express up to three ranked preferences for President. If no candidate receives over 50% of valid votes on the first count, all candidates except for the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes are eliminated. The second and third preferences of the eliminated candidates are distributed until one of the remaining two candidates receives an outright majority. In practice, this system has seen little use, as each direct election going back to the first in 1981 has resulted in a candidate from one of the two major parties or alliances at the time winning in the first count. For this reason, many citizens opt to mark only one candidate, and many are wholly unaware that multiple candidates can be ranked at all.
Timeline
- 26 October–16 December – 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis: Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Maithripala Sirisena conspire to take the office of Prime Minister before the election.
- 9 January – President Maithripala Sirisena becomes eligible to call for presidential elections at anytime.
- 31 January – President Sirisena is approved unanimously as the candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party during the Party's Anuradhapura district convention.
- 6 March – Gotabaya Rajapaksa submits application through the United States Embassy to renounce his US citizenship.
- 26 March – Gotabaya Rajapaksa travels to the United States for a personal visit, where he also expects to expedite his request to renounce his citizenship.
- 7 April – While in the United States, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is served with notice of two separate civil lawsuits against him in California over the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge as well as on behalf of Roy Samathanam, a Tamil torture survivor.
- 12 April – Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka from the United States.
- 21 April – The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings occur.
- 27 April – Gotabaya Rajapaksa announces he will run for president.
- 11 August – Mahinda Rajapaksa and his party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, officially declares Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its presidential candidate.
- 12 August – Several members of the United National Party organize a rally in Badulla to promote Sajith Premadasa as the UNP candidate, though the party was yet to name an official candidate. Sajith Premadasa clearly showed his intentions to run for the presidency. All UNFGG MPs in Badulla attended the rally, as well as Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne, Ajith Perera, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Ranjith Aluwihare, Wasantha Aluwihare, Chandrani Bandara Jayasinghe, Buddhika Pathirana, Ankumbura Withanage, and Ashoka Abeysinghe.
- 18 August – Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake is announced as the presidential candidate of the newly formed political alliance, the "National People's Power", in a rally held at Galle Face.
- 23 August – Mangala Samaraweera pledges to support to Sajith as the UNP candidate during a huge rally in Matara.
- 5 September – During a huge rally in Kurunegala, organized by all Kurunegala UNP MPs except Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, MPs pledge to support to Sajith as the UNP candidate.
- 5 September – The Sri Lanka Freedom Party informs the Elections Commission that they will be fielding a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.
- 6 September – Prime Minister and the leader of UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe reportedly expresses his intentions to be the presidential candidate of his party.
- 15 September – The National Elections Commission now has the power to call for a presidential election at any time.
- 18 September – The department of government printing Sri Lanka prints an extraordinary gazette, which lists 7 October 2019 as the date of nominations and 16 November as the date of election with the consultation of the election commission Sri Lanka.
- 24 September 2019 – Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agrees to nominate UNP Deputy Leader minister Sajith Premadasa as the presidential candidate of the United National Front, the decision is yet to be approved by the working committee of the party.
- 26 September 2019 – United National Party schedule its working committee meets at Sirikotha to select its candidate by party law.
- 26 September 2019 – The working committee of the UNP unanimously selects Sajith Premadasa as its presidential candidate.
- 29 September 2019 – Former Chief of the Sri Lankan Army Mahesh Senanayake announces that he will contest for president under the non-political National People's Movement (NPM), a collective of island-wide civil society organisations.
- 30 September – The Court of Appeal agrees to support the petition against recognizing former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a citizen of Sri Lanka on 2 October.
- 1 October – Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeks court permission to travel to Singapore from 9 to 12 October due to a medical issue.
- 2 October – A three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal commences the petition filed against recognizing former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a Sri Lankan citizen.
- 3 October – United National Party holds its National Convention at the Sudathasada Indoor Stadium to officially name Sajith Premadasa as its candidate to the public.
- 4 October – Charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa's citizenship issue are dismissed by the court and Rajapaksa is permitted to contest in the upcoming election.
- 5 October – The first ever presidential debate between presidential candidates is held. All main candidates except Gotabaya Rajapaksa took part in the event.
- 7 October – Nominations for the next president are held between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. A record of 33 candidates were nominated.
- 9 October – The SLFP pledges to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
- 15 October – The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress pledges its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa.
- 15 October – The Tamil Progressive Alliance pledges to support UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa.
- 18 October – The Ceylon Workers' Congress pledges to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
- 18 October – The Jathika Hela Urumaya holds a national convention to announce its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa.
- 4 November – The Tamil National Alliance pledges its support for UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa.
- 5 November – Former President of Sri Lanka and SLFP leader Chandrika Kumaratunga pledges to support UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa.
- 16 November – Election day: Election of the next president is held between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM.
- 17 November 2019 – President Maithripala Sirisena's first term of office ends.
- 18 November 2019 – Gotabaya Rajapaksa is inaugurated as the 8th President of Sri Lanka at Ruwanwelisaya.
- 20 November 2019 – Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resigns.
- 21 November 2019 – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appoints his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.
Prior to the election
Poll prediction
Both main candidates have had their own surveys carried out with the results claiming victory for each of them. Earlier circulated polls prediction which was claimed done by National Intelligence Service was proved false and manipulated.
Nominations
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)
After the landslide victory they won at the 2018 local elections, the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna intended to field their own candidate in the presidential election, with Chamal, Basil and Gotabaya (all brothers of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa) being mentioned as potential candidates. Calls for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run were made even though he was ineligible to run due to his possession of foreign citizenship. Basil also held foreign citizenship and was therefore ineligible.
Chamal Rajapaksa had also signaled his potential candidacy saying he would "willingly consider it if the party nominates him as the next presidential candidate", soon after the announcement made by his brother. Chamal Rajapaksa was unsure whether to contest from the SLFP or the SLPP but preferred a candidate that had the support of both parties.
On 12 January, Gotabaya announced he was ready to run in the elections if he had the support for it, though his announcement stunned senior SLPP leaders. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a leading government figure during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the development processes of the Colombo metropolitan area and the Northern Province.
In March, Chamal denied that neither him nor Basil would contest but avoided commenting on Gotabaya. Meanwhile, the SLPP announced that they favoured Gotabaya unless someone better is found.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa already had a well organized campaign promoting him and according to D. B. S Jeyaraj, the Rajapaksa family had chosen to support Gotabaya as the candidate and that he would renounce his US citizenship.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced he would run for presidency on 11 April, six days after the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. On 11 August, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SLPP officially announced that his brother Gotabaya would be its presidential candidate, while Mahinda would run as his prime ministerial candidate.
United National Party (UNP)
The United National Party did not field their own presidential candidate in either the 2010 or 2015 presidential elections and supported a common candidate in both elections. Though Maithripala Sirisena, the UNP-backed candidate, won the 2015 election, UNP expenditure for the election period was 500 million LKR and relations between Sirisena and the UNP had been shaky from the start. The power struggle between the president and UNP prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe led to the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis. In the aftermath of the events, most UNP members publicly expressed their regret for supporting a common candidate in 2015 and promised to field their own presidential candidate in the 2019 elections.
Initially, party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe seemed to be the obvious choice for the candidacy and he reportedly expressed his intentions to run for the presidency in a meeting with other senior members. However, several dissident UNP MPs including Mangala Samaraweera, Harin Fernando, Ajith Perera, Harsha de Silva and Sujeewa Senasinghe preferred deputy leader Sajith Premadasa as the UNP candidate, and organized a rally in Badulla where Premadasa himself openly expressed his intentions to be the UNP candidate.
Amidst growing support for deputy leader Sajith Premadasa and party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe refusing to make a move, Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya released a statement signaling his intention to run for presidency to end the confusion and avoid a rift within the party. However, the Sajith faction showed that they had the popular support among party members and followers by organizing successful rallies in Matara, Kurunegala, and Matugama.
On 26 September 2019, the working committee of the United National Party unanimously picked Sajith Premadasa as the UNP presidential candidate. Announcing the official statement, UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said that Ranil Wickremesinghe would continue to function as the prime minister and leader of the UNP.
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)
Incumbent president and SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena was eligible to run for a second term. Although he had previously stated that he would only serve a single term, after being sworn in in 2015, he had since expressed his desire to stay for a second term. However, with many party seniors choosing to support the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the SLFP was weakened and suffered a humiliating loss at the 2018 local elections, thus losing the credibility it had as the main opposition to the UNP.
The SLFP pledged to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 9 October.
National People's Power (NPP)
The National People's Power party announced Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake as their candidate in a massive rally on 18 August at Galle Face.