1982 Sri Lankan presidential election

1982 Sri Lankan presidential election
20 October 1982 1988 →
Turnout81.06%
 
Nominee J. R. Jayewardene Hector Kobbekaduwa
Party UNP SLFP
Popular vote 3,450,811 2,548,438
Percentage 52.91% 39.07%
Winners of polling divisions. Jayewardene in green and Kobbekaduwa in blue.
President before election

J. R. Jayewardene
UNP

Elected President

J. R. Jayewardene
UNP

The 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election was the inaugural presidential election, held on 20 October 1982. Incumbent president J. R. Jayewardene of the governing United National Party was re-elected, receiving 53% of all valid votes cast, defeating his main opponent Hector Kobbekaduwa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.[1][2]

Background

After winning a landslide victory in the 1977 general elections, prime minister J. R. Jayawardene introduced the Executive Presidency through the 1978 constitutional reforms. Consequently, prime minister J. R. Jayawardene was inaugurated as the 1st Executive President of Sri Lanka on 4 February 1978.

Under the Provisions of the Constitution, the president is elected to a six-year term and can call for an early presidential election after completing four years of her or his first term. When president Jayawardene's first four years of his first term concluded on 4 February 1978, he decided to call an early presidential election and sought reelection for a second term.

Nominations were accepted on 17 September 1982 and voter turnout was 81.06%. The election was described as a fight between capitalism and socialism: Kobbekaduwa, who advocated to carry on the policies of the previous SLFP-led regime of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was expected to undo most of the open market and capitalist reforms brought in by president Jayewardene.[3]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
J. R. JayewardeneUnited National Party3,450,81152.91
Hector KobbekaduwaSri Lanka Freedom Party2,548,43839.07
Rohana WijeweeraJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna273,4284.19
Kumar PonnambalamAll Ceylon Tamil Congress173,9342.67
Colvin R. de SilvaLanka Sama Samaja Party58,5310.90
Vasudeva NanayakkaraNava Sama Samaja Party17,0050.26
Total6,522,147100.00
Valid votes6,522,14798.78
Invalid/blank votes80,4701.22
Total votes6,602,617100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,145,01581.06
Source: Election Commission

District

Districts won by Jayewardene
Districts won by Ponnambalam
Summary of the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election by electoral district[4]
Electoral
District		 Province Jayewardene Kobbekaduwa Others Total
Valid		 Rejected
Votes		 Total
Polled		 Registered
Electors		 Turnout
Votes % Votes % Votes %
Ampara Eastern 90,772 56.39% 53,096 32.99% 17,102 10.62% 160,970 2,101 163,071 204,268 79.83%
Anuradhapura North Central 117,873 49.84% 102,973 43.54% 15,677 6.63% 236,523 2,294 238,817 278,594 85.72%
Badulla Uva 141,062 58.67% 88,462 36.79% 10,916 4.54% 240,440 2,982 243,422 280,187 86.88%
Batticaloa Eastern 48,094 40.05% 21,688 18.06% 50,294 41.89% 120,076 2,879 122,955 172,480 71.29%
Colombo Western 436,290 57.71% 276,476 36.57% 43,265 5.72% 756,031 7,990 764,021 972,196 78.59%
Galle Southern 211,544 50.23% 180,925 42.96% 28,669 6.81% 421,138 5,198 426,336 512,489 83.19%
Gampaha Western 365,838 52.50% 301,808 43.31% 29,192 4.19% 696,838 5,992 702,830 835,265 84.14%
Hambantota Southern 90,545 45.90% 76,402 38.73% 30,331 15.37% 197,278 1,804 199,082 241,956 82.28%
Jaffna Northern 44,780 20.54% 77,300 35.46% 95,923 44.00% 218,003 10,610 228,613 493,705 46.31%
Kalutara Western 211,592 50.15% 185,874 44.06% 24,426 5.79% 421,892 5,290 427,182 499,215 85.57%
Kandy Central 289,621 59.80% 178,647 36.89% 16,029 3.31% 484,297 4,548 488,845 564,767 86.56%
Kegalle Sabaragamuwa 195,444 57.02% 126,538 36.92% 20,780 6.06% 342,762 4,537 347,299 406,548 85.43%
Kurunegala North Western 345,769 55.77% 248,479 40.08% 25,730 4.15% 619,978 5,431 625,409 717,505 87.16%
Matale Central 94,031 58.11% 59,299 36.65% 8,484 5.24% 161,814 1,414 163,228 187,276 87.16%
Matara Southern 164,725 49.32% 144,587 43.29% 24,671 7.39% 333,983 3,091 337,074 399,888 84.29%
Monaragala Uva 51,264 49.38% 44,115 42.49% 8,442 8.13% 103,821 1,553 105,374 126,558 83.26%
Nuwara Eliya Central 109,017 63.10% 57,093 33.05% 6,659 3.85% 172,769 2,048 174,817 201,878 86.60%
Polonnaruwa North Central 59,414 56.26% 37,243 35.26% 8,958 8.48% 105,615 1,064 106,679 127,624 83.59%
Puttalam North Western 128,877 59.12% 80,006 36.70% 9,097 4.17% 217,980 1,995 219,975 267,675 82.18%
Ratnapura Sabaragamuwa 175,903 50.90% 152,506 44.13% 17,195 4.98% 345,604 3,407 349,011 402,202 86.78%
Trincomalee Eastern 45,522 48.64% 31,700 33.87% 16,374 17.49% 93,596 1,795 95,391 133,646 71.38%
Vanni Northern 32,834 46.42% 23,221 32.83% 14,684 20.76% 70,739 2,447 73,186 119,093 61.45%
Total 3,450,811 52.91% 2,548,438 39.07% 522,898 8.02% 6,522,147 80,470 6,602,617 8,145,015 81.06%

References

  1. ^ Selbourne, David (1983). "The Sri Lankan elections, Oct.–Dec. 1982". Electoral Studies. 2 (2): 175–177. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(83)90062-8. ISSN 0261-3794.
  2. ^ Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A. (1983). "Sri Lanka in 1982: A Year of Elections". Asian Survey. 23 (2): 158–164. doi:10.2307/2644347. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2644347.
  3. ^ Stevens, William K. (20 October 1982). "Election in Sri Lanka Capitalism Versus Socialism". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Presidential Election – 20.10.1982: All Island Results - By Electoral Districts" (PDF). Colombo, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 24 November 2019.