6th Sri Lankan provincial council election

← 2012 21 September 2013 2014 (Mar) →
148 seats across 3 provincial councils
Turnout	65.85%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa R. Sampanthan Ranil Wickremesinghe Party UPFA TNA UNP Popular vote 1,504,273 353,595 590,888 Percentage 55.66% 13.08% 21.86% Councillors 77 30 28 Councils 2 1 0
Winners of polling divisions. UPFA inblue, TNA inyellow and UNP ingreen.

Provincial councilelections were held inSri Lanka on 21 September 2013 to elect 148 members to three of the nine provincial councils in the country. 4.4 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election.^[1] Elections to the remaining six provincial councils were not due as they had their last election in2009 or2012. This was the first provincial council election in theNorthern Province in 25 years.^[2]

TheUnited People's Freedom Alliance's domination of Sri Lankan elections continued as expected. It retained control of two provincial councils (Central andNorth Western) but theTamil National Alliance won control of the firstNorthern Provincial Council.

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 theprovinces.^[3] Accordingly, on 14 November 1987, theSri Lankan Parliament passed the13th Amendment to theConstitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987.^[4][5] On 3 February 1988, nine provincial councils were created by order.^[6] The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in theNorth Central,North Western,Sabaragamuwa, andUva provinces.^[7] On 2 June 1988 elections were held for provincial councils forCentral,Southern andWestern provinces. TheUnited National Party (UNP), the ruling party at the time, won control of all seven provincial councils.^{[citation needed]}

The Indo-Lanka Accord also required the merger of theEastern andNorthern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum 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 his discretion.^[3] On 2 and 8 September 1988, PresidentJayewardene issued proclamations enabling the Eastern and Northern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected council, creating theNorth Eastern Province.^[6]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 Varadaraja Perumal,Chief Minister of the North Eastern Province, moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Councildeclaring anindependentTamil Eelam.^[8] PresidentPremadasa 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[9]

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.

On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, theJVP filed three separatepetitions with theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East.^[6] On 16 October 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect.^[6] The North Eastern Province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007.

The5th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held on a staggered basis during 2008/09 in eight provinces including the newly demerged Eastern Province. The UPFA won all eight provinces.

Soon after the civil war ended in May 2009 there were calls for election to be held for theNorthern Provincial Council. In January 2010 government ministerDouglas Devananda stated that the election would be held soon after the2010 presidential election.^[10] But the election wasn't held although presidential,parliamentary andlocal elections were held in the Northern Province.^[11] As the governmentprocrastinated, international pressure mounted. In an interview withThe Hindu in July 2012 PresidentRajapaksa stated the election would be held in September 2013.^[12] In March 2013 theUnited Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution which, amongst other things, welcomed the decision to hold the election in September 2013.^[13][14]

The 6th Sri Lankan provincial council election was also held on a staggered basis.Elections were held on 8 September 2012 in Eastern, North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. The UPFA won the majority of seats in two provinces (North Central and Sabaragamuwa) and was also able to form a majority administration in Eastern Provinces with the support of theSri Lanka Muslim Congress. On 5 July 2013 President Rajapaksa issued a proclamation ordering the Election Commissioner to conduct elections for the Northern Provincial Council.^[15][16]Central Provincial Council andNorth Western Provincial Council were also dissolved by theirgovernors on 5 July 2013.^[17]

Nominations took place between 25 July 2013 and 1 August 2013.^[18][19] 210 nominations (131 form registered political parties, 79 from independent groups) were received by the returning officers of which 201 nominations (126 form registered political parties, 75 from independent groups) were accepted and nine nominations (five form registered political parties, four from independent groups) were rejected.^[20] The UPFA, UNP andJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna are contesting in all ten districts, theTamil National Alliance is contesting in the five districts in Northern Province whilst the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, a constituent party of the UPFA, is contesting separately in seven districts.^[21]

After the nomination period had ended Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya announced that the elections would be held on 21 September 2013.^[22][23]

The UPFA won control of two provincial councils (Central and North Western) whilst the TNA won control of Northern Provincial Council.

Results of the 6thCentral Provincial Council election held on 21 September 2013:^[30]

Results of the 1stNorthern Provincial Council election held on 21 September 2013:^[31]

Results of the 6thNorth Western Provincial Council election held on 21 September 2013:^[32]

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