1994 Sri Lankan presidential election

3rd Sri Lankan presidential election

9 November 1994
Turnout	70.47%
Nominee Chandrika Kumaratunga Srima Dissanayake Party People's Alliance UNP Popular vote 4,709,205 2,715,283 Percentage 62.28% 35.91%
Winners of polling divisions. Kumaratunga in blue and Dissanayake in green.
President before election Dingiri Banda Wijetunga UNP Elected President Chandrika Kumaratunga People's Alliance

The Sri Lankan presidential election of 1994 was the third presidential election of Sri Lanka. Nominations were accepted on 7 October 1994, and the election was held on 9 November 1994. Electoral participation was 70.47%. Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga of the governing People's Alliance was elected, receiving 62% of all votes cast.

Background

President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated in 1993 by the Tamil Tigers and was succeeded by the Prime Minister, Dingiri Banda Wijetunga. President Wijetunga chose not to run in the 1994 election; therefore the United National Party selected Leader of the Opposition Gamini Dissanayake as their candidate. His main challenger was Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga of the People's Alliance, whose party had won the parliamentary elections earlier in 1994.

On 24 October 1994, during the presidential campaign, Gamini Dissanayake was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers. His name on the ballot paper was replaced by his wife Srima Dissanayake.

Results

Kumaratunga won the election by a record margin with 62.28% of the vote.

 Summary of the 1994 Sri Lankan presidential election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
style="background-color:Template:People's Alliance (Sri Lanka)/meta/color" |	Chandrika Kumaratunga	People's Alliance	4,709,205	62.28%
style="background-color:Template:United National Party/meta/color" |	Srima Dissanayake	United National Party	2,715,283	35.91%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" |	Hudson Samarasinghe	Independent	58,886	0.78%
style="background-color:Template:Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya/meta/color" |	Harischandra Wijayatunga	Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya	32,651	0.43%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" |	A. J. Ranasinghe	Independent	22,752	0.30%
	G. A. Nihal	Sri Lanka Progressive Front	22,749	0.30%
Valid Votes			7,561,526	100.00%
Rejected Votes			151,706	1.97%
Total Polled			7,713,232	70.47%
Registered Electors			10,945,065

References

• "Result of Presidential Election 1994" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-04.
• "1994 Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com.
• "1994 - Presidential Election". Manthree.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30.