1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election

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2nd Ceylonese parliamentary election
← 1947 24–30 May 1952 1956 →
95 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon
48 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  File:N M Perera.jpg
Leader Dudley Senanayake S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike N.M. Perera
Party UNP SLFP LSSP
Leader since 1952 1951 1945
Leader's seat Dedigama Attanagalla Ruwanwella
Last election 42 Seats, 39.81% New Party 10 Seats, 10.81%
Seats won 54 9 9
Seat change Increase12 Decrease1
Popular vote 1,026,005 361,250 305,133
Percentage 44.08% 15.52% 13.11%
Prime Minister before election

Dudley Senanayake
UNP

Prime Minister-designate

Dudley Senanayake
UNP

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1952. It is notable for being the second and final election overseen and administered by the Department of Parliamentary Elections before its merger in 1955.[1]

Background

Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952, and was succeeded by his son, Dudley. The national wave of mourning for Ceylon's first prime minister greatly boosted the UNP's fortunes.

The 1952 election was the first contested by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had broken away from the UNP on a platform of Sinhala nationalism, and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party), which split from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress over joining the UNP government.

Results

Because the estate Tamils had been stripped of their citizenship by the Senanayake government, the Ceylon Indian Congress, which most of them had supported, was eliminated from Parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party lost seats. The UNP won a majority, mainly at the cost of the CIC and the LSSP.[citation needed]

e • d Summary of the 1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election[2]
Party Candidates Votes % Seats
style="background-color:Template:United National Party/meta/color" |  United National Party 81 1,026,005 44.08% 54
style="background-color:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color" |  Sri Lanka Freedom Party 48 361,250 15.52% 9
style="background-color:Template:Lanka Sama Samaja Party/meta/color" |  Lanka Sama Samaja Party 39 305,133 13.11% 9
style="background-color:Template:Communist Party of Ceylon/meta/color" |  Communist Party of Ceylon /
Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party		 19 134,528 5.78% 4
style="background-color:Template:All Ceylon Tamil Congress/meta/color" |  All Ceylon Tamil Congress 7 64,512 2.77% 4
style="background-color:Template:Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi/meta/color" |  Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 7 45,331 1.95% 2
style="background-color:Template:Ceylon Labour Party/meta/color" |  Ceylon Labour Party 5 27,096 1.16% 1
Republican Party 9 33,001 1.42% 0
  Buddhist Republican Party 3 3,987 0.17% 0
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" |  Independents 88 326,783 14.04% 12
Valid Votes 306 2,327,626 100.00% 95
Rejected Votes
Total Votes Polled
Total Electors Polled[a] 2,114,615
Registered Electors 2,990,912
Turnout 70.70%

Notes

  1. ^ Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.

References

  1. ^ "Elections Department in the limelight". ft.lk. Daily Financial Times. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Table 32 Parliament Election (1952)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
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