1982 Sri Lankan presidential election

1st Sri Lankan presidential election

20 October 1982
Turnout	81.06%
Nominee J. R. Jayewardene Hector Kobbekaduwa Party UNP SLFP Home state Colombo District States carried 21 0 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 Sri Lankan presidential election of 1982 was the first presidential election of Sri Lanka. Nominations were accepted on 17 September 1982, and the election was held on 20 October 1982. Electoral participation was 81.06%. Incumbent president J. R. Jayewardene of the governing United National Party was elected, receiving 53% of all votes cast.

Results

Best district

Candidate	District	Votes	%
J. R. Jayewardene (UNP)	Nuwara Eliya	109,017	63.10
Hector Kobbekaduwa (SLFP)	Ratnapura	152,506	44.13
Rohana Wijeweera (JVP)	Hambantota	28,835	14.62
Kumar Ponnambalam (ACTC)	Jaffna	87,263	40.03
Colvin de Silva (LSSP)	Kalutara	8,613	2.04
Vasudeva Nanayakkara (NSSP)	Ratnapura	3,494	1.01

References

• "Result of Presidential Election 1982" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
• "1982 Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com.
• "1982 - Presidential Election". Manthree.com.