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95 seats in theHouse of Representatives of Ceylon 48 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout |  61.3% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Sri Lanka |
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Parliamentary elections were held inCeylon between 23 August and 20 September 1947. They were the first elections overseen and administered by the newly formedDepartment of Parliamentary Elections.[1]
This is considered the first national election held inSri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). Although it took place before independence was actually granted, it was the first election under theSoulbury Constitution.
Some of the major figures who had led theindependence struggle were found in the right-wingUnited National Party led byD.S. Senanayake. In opposition were theTrotskyistLanka Sama Samaja Party andBolshevik Leninist Party of India, theCommunist Party of Ceylon, theCeylon Indian Congress and an array of independents.
Senanayake's UNP fell short of a majority, but was able to form a government in coalition with theAll Ceylon Tamil Congress, which had taken most of the seats in theTamil-majority regions of the island.
Sri Lanka obtained fullindependence as adominion in 1948. TheBritish nevertheless retained military bases in the country andEnglish remained as the official language along with much of the administrative system put in place by the British along with British officials.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United National Party | 751,432 | 39.81 | 42 | |
| Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 204,020 | 10.81 | 10 | |
| BSP–BLP | 113,193 | 6.00 | 5 | |
| All Ceylon Tamil Congress | 82,499 | 4.37 | 7 | |
| Ceylon Indian Congress | 72,230 | 3.83 | 6 | |
| Communist Party of Ceylon | 70,331 | 3.73 | 3 | |
| Ceylon Labour Party | 38,932 | 2.06 | 1 | |
| United Lanka Congress | 3,953 | 0.21 | 0 | |
| Swaraj Party | 1,393 | 0.07 | 0 | |
| Independents | 549,381 | 29.11 | 21 | |
| Total | 1,887,364 | 100.00 | 95 | |
| Total votes | 1,701,150 | – | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 3,048,145 | 55.81 | ||
| Source: Nohlenet al.[2][a] | ||||
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