6th Sri Lankan provincial council election

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114 seats across 3 provincial councils
Turnout	64.10%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Ranil Wickremasinghe Party UPFA UNP Popular vote 1,027,310 557,885 Percentage 51.05% 27.72% Councillors 63 29 Councils 2 0   Third party Fourth party   Leader R. Sampanthan Rauff Hakeem Party TNA Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Popular vote 193,827 132,917 Percentage 9.63% 6.61% Councillors 11 7 Councils 0 0
Winners of polling divisions. UPFA inblue, TNA inyellow and SLMC ingreen.

Provincial councilelections were held inSri Lanka on 8 September 2012 to elect 114 members to three of the nine provincial councils in the country. 3.3 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election. Elections for theNorthern Provincial Council, which had been governed directly by the national government since it was demerged from theNorth Eastern Provincial Council in January 2007, are overdue but the government has not set a date. Elections to the remaining five provincial councils are not due till 2014 as they had their last election in 2009.

TheUnited People's Freedom Alliance's domination of Sri Lankan elections continued as expected. It retained control of two provincial councils (North Central andSabaragamuwa) but lost overall control in the other provincial council (Eastern), although it was the largest group.

In an attempt to end theSri Lankan Civil War theIndo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987. One of the requirements of the accord was that theSri Lankan government todevolve powers to the provinces.^[1] Accordingly on 14 November 1987 theSri Lankan Parliament passed the 13thAmendment to the1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987.^[2][3] On 3 February 1988 nine provincial councils were created by order.^[4] The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 inNorth Central,North Western,Sabaragamuwa, andUva provinces.^[5] On 2 June 1988 elections were held for provincial councils forCentral,Southern andWestern provinces. TheUnited National Party (UNP), which was in power nationally, won control of all seven provincial councils.

The Indo-Lanka Accord also required the merger of the Eastern and Northern provinces into oneadministrative unit. The accord required areferendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed theSri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at hisdiscretion.^[1] On September 2 and 8 1988President Jayewardene issuedproclamations enabling the Eastern and Northern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected council, creating theNorth Eastern Province.^[4] Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were held on 19 November 1988. TheEelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, an Indian backedparamilitary group, won control of the North Eastern provincial council.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 March 1990, just as theIndian Peace Keeping Force were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Annamalai Varatharajah Perumal,Chief Minister of the North Eastern Province, moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Councildeclaring anindependentEelam.^[6]President Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province.^{[citation needed]}

The 2nd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1993 in seven provinces. The UNP retained control of six provincial councils but lost control of the largest provincial council, Western, to the oppositionPeople's Alliance. A special election was held in Southern Province in 1994 after some UNP provincial councillors defected to the opposition. The PA won the election and took control of the Southern Provincial Council.

The3rd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1999 in seven provinces. The PA, which was now in power nationally, managed to win the majority of seats in two provinces (North Central and North Western). It was also able to form a majority administration in the other five provinces with the support of smaller parties such as theCeylon Workers' Congress (CWC) . The UNP regained control of the Central Provincial Council in 2002 after the CWC councillors crossed over to the opposition.^[7]

The4th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2004 in seven provinces. TheUnited People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the successor to the PA, won all seven provinces.

The5th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2008/09 in eight provinces. The UPFA won all eight provinces.

The UPFA won control of two provincial councils (North Central and North Central). There was no overall control in the other provincial council (Eastern) but the UPFA was the largest group.

Results of the 2ndEastern Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[15]

Results of the 6thNorth Central Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[16]

Results of the 6thSabaragamuwa Provincial Council election held on 8 September 2012:^[17]

• Sri Lankan provincial council elections
• 2012 elections in Sri Lanka
• 2012 in Sri Lanka
• September 2012 in Sri Lanka
• Indian Peace Keeping Force

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