The Ninth Parliamentary Election of Sri Lanka in 2020

The Ninth Parliamentary Election of Sri Lanka in 2020: An Analysis of the Outcomes
Krishnamohan Thanabalasingam & Sathiyasegar Kandasamy

Professor in Political Science Eastern University, Sri Lanka,
krishnamohant@esn.ac.lk
Sathiyasegar Kandasamy
Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology
Eastern University, Sri Lanka,
Sri Lanka
sathiyasegar@gmail.com
DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659
http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659
Abstract— The Sinhala Buddhists, who are the majority in Sri Lanka, helped the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) win an absolute majority in the ninth general election of Sri Lanka. The SLPP always wishes to exceed expectations and the president, who also belongs to the SLPP, claimed that the party’s performance in the general
election was better than what they had anticipated. The
United National Party (UNP), led by the former Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, suffered the worst
electoral defeat in their history as they managed to win
only one seat, that too through the national list. Ranil
Wickremesinghe also recorded his first defeat in an
electoral battlefield. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB),
led by Sajith Premadasa, that broke away from the UNP,
managed to gain 54 seats and emerged as the secondlargest alliance in the island. The Tamil National Alliance
(TNA), which used to enjoy the support of the majority in
the North and East of Sri Lanka, suffered a huge setback
as they ended up with only 10 seats, 6 less than what they
had won in the previous general election. The SLPP
managed to win approximately 59% of the popular vote
while the SJB won almost 24% of the votes, becoming the
second most popular party in the island ahead of the
veteran parties like the UNP and TNA.
Key Words— Constitution, Election, Parliament, Women,
Minorities
I. INTRODUCTION
Even though 16 million Sri Lankans were registered to vote to
elect the members of Sri Lanka’s ninth parliament, the
election campaign was mostly affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. According to the voters’ list of 2018, nearly 84% of
the registered voters polled their votes in the last November
2019 Presidential election. Considering the voters’ list of
2019, total registered voters’ numbers were 16,263,885. But
the polled votes fell to 12,343,308 (75.89%) due to the public
health issue. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)
contested against a weakened opposition party in the
parliament election. Even though the parliamentary election
was delayed twice due to the COVID-19, SLPP got 2/3
majority in the parliament with the help of other supporting
parties. The SLPP was expecting to get the two-thirds majority
(150 seats) in the parliament without other parties’ support.
But they were able to gain only 145 seats in the parliament.
The parliamentary elections results may be seen as an
indicator of its future political direction and help to increase
the potential executive president’s power. With obstacles from
the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the election
commission tried to make sure that polling was free, fair, and
safe for all. Due to the inability of foreign election monitors to
travel to the country due to the COVID-19 related restrictions
in place, the election was monitored by local personnel.
Therefore, this research article is focused on examining the
following crucial problems:

1. Did the SLPP record a historic victory by gaining a
   total of 6.8 million Sinhalese cast votes (59% of the
   valid votes) in the ninth parliamentary election?
2. Why did UNP-led United National Front for Good
   Governance secured 5.0 million votes in the 2015
   General election but in the last parliament election,
   just secured only 249,435 votes?
3. How to evaluate the political status of minority
   parties in the ninth parliamentary election?
4. What, in the future, necessary strategies should be
   developed to ensure maximum security to the
   women’s political participation?
   This research paper consists of two parts. The first part of the
   research paper analyzes the parliament election results and
   SLPP’s decisive victory. The second part of the research paper
   analyzes the minority political parties’ status and women’s
   political participation. This research was done qualitatively
   and involved analysis of the content of the events. The content
   analysis generally involved closely examining the text of
   documents and the words of politicians and political analysts.
   The data collected regarding the criticisms of the political
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 435
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   parties’ manifesto of Sri Lanka on online literature, political
   leaders’ speech, past election statistics, and research books
   have been used to write this research article.
   II. THEORY
   The primary norm of proportional representation (PR) is,
   every group of the society would secure their representation in
   the parliament, in proportion to their population. Different
   communities, who otherwise will go without representation,
   will get representation according to their strength in numbers.
   The main purpose of the PR system is to safeguard a
   representative assembly reflecting the statistical exactness of
   the various divisions in the constituency. Eminent political
   thinker J.S Mill supported the PR system (Agarwal, R.C,
   1976). He says that a parliament must represent, all the
   divisions of the constituency and no minority should go
   without any representation in the parliament. The parliament
   is compared to maps. One cannot draw a map of a country
   ignoring any part of the area of the country. All the areas of
   the country should be represented in the map. Similarly, all the
   areas of the constituency should be represented in the
   parliament. The PR system has two methods. One is the Hare
   system and the other one is the List system. Hare systems is
   also known by other names such as preferential system or the
   single transferable vote system. The voters exercise many
   votes as there are several candidates and indicates their
   preferences of the candidates for whom they vote. In the list
   system candidates are grouped into lists, with each party
   representing a separate list. A voter casts vote for a list. Every
   party offers a list of its candidates up to the number of seats to
   be filled from each constituency. A voter cast vote for the list
   she/he likes. She/he may cast vote either for one candidate on
   the list or may distribute all his votes to the different
   candidates on the same list. But she/he cannot cast more than
   one vote to any candidates. This system gives the opportunity
   of representation to all parties, big or small, and confirms that
   the parliament mirrors the view of all the people (Agarwal,
   R.C, 1976). Under this system, even a minor or numerically
   small group of people may send a representative if they can
   organize themselves to cast the votes in favour of a candidate.
   In the same way, even a small party can get the number of its
   members elected with the help of constituencies of a district in
   which it is popular. PR satisfies its aim by giving equal
   chances to the minority.
   The aim of the PR system allocates seats in the legislature
   according to the casted number of votes to the political parties
   or independent groups. Let’s consider this scenario as an
   example. Based on the constituency, five seats are allowed
   from a certain district or area. A party polling three fifth of the
   total casting votes by the voters in that constituency will return
   three out of five seats. Another party polling two fifth of the
   total cast votes will return two seats. The party composition of
   the legislature reflects the party preference of the electorate
   with a considerable degree of accuracy in the electorate. For
   example, hypothetical table 1 shows a legislature with five
   seats with 200,000 voters in an electorate.
   TABLE I
   HYPOTHETICAL TABLE
   Party Votes Seats in the Body
   Casted
   Votes
   Percentage Number
   of Returned
   Percentage
   A 120,00
   0
   60% 3 60%
   B 80,000 40% 2 40%
   Total 200,00
   0
   100% 5 100%
   III. DISSOLVING the PARLIAMENT and COVID -19
   The President can dissolve the parliament four and a half
   (4-1 / 2) years after the commencement of the term of office of
   a parliament of Sri Lanka. The power to dissolve parliament is
   vested in the President by Article 70 (10) and section (2) (e) of
   the constitution. Therefore, following these provisions, and
   per the provisions of section 10 of the parliamentary elections
   Act No. 1 of 1981, the President of the Democratic Socialist
   Republic of Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, dissolved the
   parliament at midnight on March 2, 2020, and announced the
   election for a new parliament will be held on April 25. He also
   called on the new parliament to begin its session on May 14,
   2020 (The Gazette of The Democratic Socialist Republic of
   Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No. 2165/8 – Monday, March 02,
   2020).
   During this period, the COVID-19 pandemic began to
   spread in Sri Lanka. On March 19, Election Commission
   announced that the parliamentary elections would be
   postponed indefinitely, referring to instructions from the
   Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) that the
   country’s health and medical conditions were in jeopardy.
   Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, the
   government was stubborn that elections should be held on
   April 25 as planned. Against the government move, the
   Election Commission banned political parties from holding
   election rallies, mass meetings, and campaigns. However,
   during a video conference with SAARC heads of state, Sri
   Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapakse reaffirmed that the
   parliamentary elections would go ahead as planned.
   Ignoring the president’s urgency and focus on holding the
   parliamentary elections as planned, the Election Commission
   of Sri Lanka postponed the parliamentary elections until June
   20, using its powers. The Election Commission also wrote a
   letter to the president on April 3, asking the president to seek
   the advice from the Supreme Court on announcing a new date
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 436
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   considering the constitution, and the health and medical
   conditions of the country.
   The President’s office had no intention of seeking advice
   from the Supreme Court on holding parliamentary elections.
   On April 9, the secretary to the president responded in writing
   that it was the duty of the Election Commission to abandon its
   warning of a constitutional crisis and hold parliamentary
   elections. Finally, the parliamentary elections were not held on
   April 25 amid the spreading COVID -19 pandemic. And the
   Election Commission decided to postpone the general election
   until June 20. On May 28, one of the members of the Election
   Commission expressed his view opposing the holding of the
   election under the influence of the government. This was
   again seen as a matter of crisis between the president and the
   constitution and was considered a fundamental rights issue
   and turned into a matter for the Supreme Court.
   As a challenge to the Gazette notice, the newspaper editor
   Victor Ivan and seven others on 5th May 2020, Samagi Jana
   Balawegaya and Champika Ranawaka of Jathika Hela
   Urumaya on 6th May 2020, Kumara Welgama of New Sri
   Lanka Freedom Party on 9th May, filed a fundamental rights
   in the Supreme court (Colombo Page News Desk, Jun 2,
   2020).
   The petition stated, holding parliamentary elections on
   June 20 is against the provisions of the constitution. The
   petitioners also contended that the president’s gazette
   notification on dissolving the parliament was invalid as the
   new parliament could not be convened within three months of
   its dissolution. Moreover, the petitioners have observed that
   free and fair elections cannot be held in the context of the
   COVID -19 crisis as the pandemic has not yet been brought
   under control. The health-related risk will seriously hamper
   the campaign efforts and they needed free and fair elections.
   The petitioners, therefore, asked the Supreme Court to give a
   verdict that the fundamental rights of the people are being
   violated by holding elections before the conclusion of the
   COVID -19-virus pandemic.
   A five-member panel of the Supreme Court judges began
   the hearings on May 18th to determine whether all the seven
   petitions filed against the general election scheduled for June
   20 should be taken up for the hearing or not. After a ten-days
   hearing, the five Supreme Court judges unanimously
   dismissed the case, saying the petitions would not be heard.
   Following this, the Election Commission announced August
   5
   th, 2020, as the new date for holding parliamentary elections
   (Colombo Page News Desk, Jun 2, 2020).
   IV. ELECTORAL SYSTEM of the PARLIAMENT ELECTION of
   SRI LANKA
   The electoral system operates at three levels such as
   national, provincial, and local in Sri Lanka. For administrative
   purposes, the country has been divided into 25 administrative
   districts. Article 96 (1) says that to hold elections, the country
   can be divided into not less than twenty and not more than
   twenty-five electoral districts. According to Article 96 (1) &
   (2), the country has been divided into 22 electoral districts for
   electoral purposes, of these 20 electoral districts have coboundary with the 25 electoral districts. According to Article
   96 (3), an electoral district namely Vanni has been formed by
   the Delimitation Commission who combined three
   administrative districts, namely, Mullaitivu, Mannar, and
   Vavuniya. The same way other an electoral district namely
   Jaffna has been formed by the Delimitation Commission who
   combined two administrative districts such as Jaffna and
   Kilinochchi. The above 22 electoral districts have been
   divided into 160 polling divisions. Article 94 (4) says that the
   electoral districts of each province shall be altogether entitled
   to elect four (4) members. Article 98 (1) says that the 22
   electoral districts shall together be entitled to elect one
   hundred and ninety-six (196) members for the parliament. In
   this way, 160 parliament members shall be elected by 160
   poling divisions from 22 electoral districts and besides based
   on Article 98 (2), each electoral district shall elect thirty-six
   (36) parliament members (The Constitution of the Democratic
   Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,2015).
   Thus, the country is divided into 22 electoral districts for
   parliamentary elections and each of these districts becomes a
   constituency. According to Article 98 (4), the total number of
   electors whose names appear in the registers of electors of all
   the electoral districts shall be divided into one hundred and
   sixty. The whole number, resulting from dividing numbers
   (any fraction numbers not being considered) is hereinafter
   referred to as the “qualifying number”.
   According to the constitution, any person qualified to be a
   voter is qualified to be elected as a member of parliament. The
   parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka are held on the PR
   system. The number of members of parliament to be elected
   from each constituency is determined on a formula based on
   the total number of voters in the country. A political party or
   an independent group expecting to contest a constituency
   should submit a list of names of candidates. Such a list should
   contain three names more than the number of members to be
   elected. A voter is entitled to one vote which must be cast for
   the political party or the independent group of her/his choice.
   She/he is also entitled to mark up to three preferences against
   the names of three candidates of the political party or the
   independent group he votes for. The number of members
   elected from a political party or an independent group at an
   election is determined based on the votes received by the
   political party or group in the entire electorate.
   196 candidates were elected from twenty-two electoral
   district in the nine electoral provinces. Each electoral district
   consists of different numbers of members based on the
   population of voters like it show below (Daily FT,
   Wednesday, 5 August 2020 03:43).
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 437
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   TABLE II
   COMPOSITION of MEMBERS in the 9TH PARLIAMENT-2020
   Source: 5
   th August 2020 Sri Lankan Parliamentary Elections, Election Commission
   V. NINTH PARLIAMENT of SRI LANKA
   The Election Commission announced on August 5
   th
   , 2020,
   as the new date for holding parliamentary elections. In the
   2020 parliamentary election, almost 16 million voters casted
   their votes in 22 electoral districts, 7452 candidates contested
   from recognized political parties, and independent groups.
   Amongst, those 3652 candidates were from recognized
   political parties and 3800 candidates were from independent
   groups. A total of 313 independent groups contested in the
   2020 parliamentary election. Among the 7452 candidates, 196
   candidates were elected as parliamentarians out of 225 at the
   district level under the PR system. And the rest of the 29
   members were nominated through the national list under the
   1978 constitution (Daily FT, Wednesday, 5 August 2020
   03:43). It shows in the table:3 below.
   TABLE III
   9
   TH PARLIAMENT ELECTION ACTIVITIES- AUGUST 5, 2020
   Description Amount
   Total Parliament MPs 225
   Elected Members 196
   National List Members 29
   No. of Candidates 7,452
   No of Eligible Voters 16,263,885
   Electoral District 22
   Polling Stations 12,985
   Policemen on Election Duty 82,000
   Health Service on Election Duty 8,000
   Source: Daily FT, Wednesday, 5 August 2020
   Even though in the 2015 parliamentary election more
   political parties and independent groups contested, only six
   S.
   No
   Electoral
   Provinces
   Electoral District Elected
   Candidates in
   the District
   Level
   Elected
   Members in the
   Provincial Level
   Contested
   Candidates
   1 Western Colombo 19
   47
   924
   Gampaha 18 693
   Kalutara 10 312
   2 Central Kandy 12
   25
   435
   Nuwara Eliya 08 275
   Matale 05 184
   3 Southern Galle 09
   23
   312
   Matara 07 200
   Hambantota 07 190
   4 North-West Kurunegala 15
   23
   396
   Puttalam 08 352
   5 Sabaragamuwa Ratnapura 11
   20
   308
   Kegalle 09 228
   6 Eastern Digamadulla 07
   16
   540
   Batticaloa 05 304
   Trincomalee 04 189
   7 North -Central Anuradhapura 09
   14
   264
   Polonnaruwa 05 152
   8 Uva Badulla 09
   15
   288
   Monaragala 06 171
   9 Northern Jaffna 07
   13
   330
   Vanni 06 405
   Total 196 196 7452
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 438
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   political parties were able to represent their members in the
   parliament (General Election, 2015). They are the United
   National Party (UNP), the United People’s Freedom Alliance
   (UPFA), the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the
   People’s Liberation Front (JVP), the Sri Lanka Muslim
   Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party
   (EPDP)
   But in the parliamentary elections held on August 5, 2020,
   fifteen political parties fielded their members in the parliament
   (General Election, 2015). The SLPP gained most of the seats
   at the parliamentary general election in 2020. Other political
   parties to obtain seats in parliament general election were the
   Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi
   (ITAK), Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB), Eelam People’s
   Democratic Party (EPDP), Ahila Ilankai Thamil Congress
   (AITC), Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), Sri
   Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Muslim National Alliance
   (MNA), Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK), All Ceylon
   Makkal Congress (ACMC), National Congress (NC), Sri
   Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), United National Party
   (UNP) and the Our Power of People Party (OPPP). Given
   below is a table showing the distribution of seats for each
   political party (Parliament of Sri Lanka, Monday, August 10,
   2020)
   Source: Parliament of Sri Lanka, Monday, August 10, 2020
   The SLPP recorded a historic victory with 145 seats
   through gaining a total of 6.8 million cast votes with 59% of
   the valid votes in the ninth parliamentary election. The SLPP
   secured 6.9 million votes in the November 2019 presidential
   election but in the last parliament election, just about one
   hundred thousand votes were lost due to various political
   scenarios. Like the parliamentary election victory back in
   2010, after ending the civil war with LTTE, the SLPP’s
   performance in the 2020 parliament election was very
   impressive in many ways.
   The election results show that the SLPP’s landslide victory
   was recorded mostly with Sinhalese votes. Except for
   Sathasivam Viyalendiran in the Batticaloa district, Jeevan
   Thondaman, and M. Rameshwaran in the Nuwara Eliya
   district and Kader Mastan in the Vanni district, all the other
   SLPP candidates were elected by the Sinhalese votes in Sri
   Lanka. Therefore, it can be argued that out of the 145 seats
   won by SLPP, 141 seats were won with Sinhala voters. SLPP
   has created a government of the Sinhalese without the support
   of the minority people, who were considered as kingmakers of
   the previous government. As diplomatically, SLPP succeeded
   in carrying out anti-minority propaganda among the majority
   TABLE IV
   VOTES, SEATS & NATIONAL LIST BY PARTY – ALL ISLAND 2020
   S.No
   Party Votes % Elected Seats
   National
   List Total Seats
   1
   SLPP 6,853,690 59.09 128 17 145
   2
   SJB 2,771,980 23.90 47 7 54
   3
   ITAK 327,168 2.82 9 1 10
   4
   JJB 445,958 3.84 2 1 3
   5
   AITC 67,766 0.58 1 1 2
   6
   EPDP 61,464 0.53 2 0 2
   7
   UNP 249,435 2.15 0 1 1
   8
   OPPP 67,758 0.58 0 1 1
   9 TMV
   P 67,692 0.58 1 0 1
   10
   SLFP 66,579 0.57 1 0 1
   11
   MNA 55,981 0.48 1 0 1
   12 TMT
   K 51,301 0.44 1 0 1
   13 ACM
   C 43,310 0.37 1 0 1
   14
   NC 39,272 0.34 1 0 1
   15 SLM
   C 34,428 0.39 1 0 1
   Total 196 29 225
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 439
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   Sinhalese population. The SLPP then appointed three Muslim
   MPs and one Tamil MP as members of parliament while
   appointing the members of the national list. It is an attempt to
   provide a small relief to the mental anguish caused to the
   minority people during the campaign and to spread the
   message that a government has been established that will
   incorporate and rule all the people of the country.
   The ninth parliament election result in Sri Lanka has once
   more confirmed that Mahinda Rajapaksa is the preferred
   Sinhala Buddhist leader by the majority of people. And 2019
   Presidential election results have made Gotabaya Rajapaksa,
   who is the younger brother of Mahinda Rajapaksha, as the
   most powerful president of the country. Kusal Perera, a
   veteran political analyst, writer, and a strong critic of
   governments, said: “Yes, Sri Lanka has been gradually turning
   into a majoritarian country… That is what is guaranteed in
   these two elections – November’s Presidential victory and this
   Parliamentary result” (Indian Express, August 9, 2020,
   10:33:48 am). The poll results indicated nothing but the fact
   that Sri Lankan people wanted a strongly Sinhala Buddhist
   leader. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the most popular leader;
   Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the most powerful leader. They have
   big challenges in front of them without provoking racism,
   should plan and go forward with suitable developmentoriented policies, without discriminating the Sri Lankans.
   Gotabaya Rajapaksa has foreign exposure and knowledge, he
   knows that development-oriented policies alone will save the
   country and he is working towards that, to improve the
   economy.
   An equally important scenario of the 2020 general election
   has been the downfall of the UNP. The UNP is the largest and
   liberal party in the history of Sri Lanka. Since the party was
   founded by the first prime minister of Sri Lanka’s D.S.
   Senanayake on 6 September 1946. It has come to power for 36
   times in the 72 years of the post-independence of Sri Lanka.
   The UNP has a noble history as it has made six heads of
   government. They are, namely, D.S. Senanayake, Dudley
   Senanayake, Sir John Kotelawala, J.R. Jayewardene,
   Ranasinghe Premadasa, and D.B. Wijetunga. (Presidential
   Secretariat,2020). However, Ranasinghe Premadasa was the
   last elected head of government from the UNP, he was
   assassinated by the LTTE in May 1993. In the last parliament
   election, there was a split between the two leaders and
   contesting separately, with former Prime Minister Ranil
   Wickremasinghe led the UNP, and Sajith Premadasa led the
   breakaway faction, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). UNP
   leader Ranil Wickremasinghe met the first historical letdown
   in his political career in last parliament election. UNP secured
   only 249,435 votes or 2.15 % of the total valid votes. They
   could not gain one seat in the parliament too. They gained only
   one national list seat in the parliament. While UNP lost all its
   seats, its substitute party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB)
   alliance gained reasonable seats in the parliament. It was led
   by Sajith Premadasa, who is the son of the former president
   Premadasa who was the leader of the UNP. The SJB came in a
   second winner and Sajith Premadasa secured the status of the
   opposition party leader in the ninth parliament. The SJB
   secured 24% of the popular vote and 54 parliamentary seats
   including seven national list seats. It is noted that in the 2010
   parliamentary election, UNP’s got 29% of the popular vote and
   60 parliament seats. Two SJB partner parties, the SLMC, and
   the ACMC secured a seat each under their flag, which made an
   effective opposition with 56 members of parliament.
   VI. WOMEN REPRESENTATION
   Women comprise over 50% of the total population in Sri
   Lanka. Although, when it comes to political participation at
   the local and national levels, the number of women politicians
   is at a very minimal level in the country. Sri Lanka enjoyed
   electing the world’s first woman prime minister who served
   three terms in that capacity and her daughter Chandrika
   Bandaranaike Kumaratunga served as a president for two
   consecutive terms. After that Sri Lanka has not witnessed any
   notable progress in women’s participation in politics.
   When taking into consideration women’s representation in
   the 2020 parliament election, there were nearly 59 women
   representatives who received nominations from various
   political parties to contest in the parliamentary election 2020,
   but only eight (8) candidates won the election. Also, four (4)
   women selected to the parliament, as national lists members,
   where two representatives from SLPP, one from SJB, and one
   from Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB). Altogether, twelve (12)
   women were selected as a member of parliament out of 225 in
   the 9th parliament (News wire,14.08.2020). It shows the
   table:5 below.
   TABLE V
   WOMEN IN THE 9TH PARLIAMENT
   Source: The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
   Extraordinary, No. 2187/26
   According to the web site of the women’s national
   parliament archive, in 2018, Pakistan secured 20.2% women
   representation in the lower house and 19.2% in the upper
   house. In 2018, Bangladesh secured 20.7% of women’s
   representation in parliament. In 2017 Nepal secured 32.7% of
   women representation in the lower house and 37.3 % in the
   upper house. In 2014, India secured 12.6% women
   Party District Name
   SLPP
   Ratnapura Pavithra Wanniarachchi
   Muditha Soyza
   SJB Thalatha Athukorale
   SLPP Kegalle Rajika Wickremesinghe
   SLPP Gampaha Sudharshani Fernandopille
   Kokila Gunawardene
   Galle Geetha Kumarasinghe
   SJB Matale Rohini Kaviratne
   SLPP
   National List Seetha Arambepola
   Manjula Dissanayake
   SJB Diana Gamage
   JJB Harini Amarasuriya
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 440
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   representation in the lower house and 11.5% in the upper
   house (Women in national parliaments,2019).
   While compared South Asia with Sri Lanka’s experience,
   from 1994 to 2020, it indicated that women’s participation in
   Sri Lanka is at a very minimal level. The below chart indicates
   that the reality of Sri Lanka’s women’s political participation in
   the last thirty years. The women activists’ concern is that
   women’s representation in the parliament increased only so far
   5.3% in the history of Sri Lanka (Parliament of Sri Lanka,
   Lady Members). It is shown in the figure I below.
   FIGURE I
   WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE PARLIAMENT FROM1994
   TO 2025
   Source: Parliament of Sri Lanka, Lady Members
   Forty-eight (48) members have been elected to the
   parliament on behalf of the minority people in the recent
   parliamentary elections in 2020. Twenty-eight of them (28)
   represent the Tamil people from different parts of the country
   on behalf of different political parties and of the twenty-eight
   members, twenty-five members have been elected from
   deferent districts. The other three members were selected
   through the respective political party’s national list (The
   Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
   Extraordinary, No. 2187/26). It is shown in the table VI below.
   TABLE VI
   TAMIL MEMBERS in the 9
   TH PARLIAMENT ELECTION 2020
   Source: The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No. 2187/26
   VII. TAMIL and MUSLIMS MEMBERS in the 9
   TH PARLIAMENT
   In the year 2001, the Tamil United Liberation Front
   (TULF) prominent leaders formed a new political wing, which
   is named as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), with uniting
   all other moderate Tamil political parties and some ex-militant
   groups. It contested in the parliamentary election held on 5th
   December 2001 under the TULF symbol and secured 3.89 %
   (348,164) votes won 15 seats in the North and Eastern
   Province.
   At present, three political parties like ITAK, PLOTE, and
   TELO came under one umbrella in the name of TNA. In the
   last general election for the 9th parliament, TNA suffered a
   setback in the north and east, they secured only 325,168 votes
   and gained nine seats. Out of nine seats, ITAK won five seats
   including two seats from Jaffna, one seat from Vanni,
   Batticaloa, and Trincomalee district. In the other four seats,
   the TELO won two seats from Vanni and one seat from
   Batticaloa, and the PLOTE won the one seat from Jaffna
   District and but no candidate was nominated in the Batticaloa
   district representing PLOTE. But the ex-candidate of the
   PLOTE contested for SLPP and won the seat in the Batticaloa
   district. Now he is a State Minister of Postal Services and
   Professional Development of Journalists in the SLPP
   Government (The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist
   Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No. 2187/26).
   Comparing with the previous election, we can say, that the
   TNA’s best election period was in 2004 of the parliamentary
   election, they secured 6.84% of the popular votes (633,654)
   and secured 22 seats. Furthermore, following election periods,
   they secured 2.90% (233,190) votes and 14 seats in 2010,
   4.62% (515,963) votes and 16 seats in 2015 and 2.82%
   (327,168) votes and 10 seats in 2020.
   Twenty (20) represent the Muslim people from different
   parts of the country on behalf of different political parties and
   of the 20 members, sixteen members have been elected
   deferent district. The other four members were selected
   through the respective political party’s national list (The Gazette
   Methods ITAK SJB SLFP EPDP AITC TMVP TMTK SLPP Total
   Elected 9 7 1 2 1 1 1 3 25
   National List 1 1 1 03
   Total 28
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 441
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No.
   2187/26). It is shown in the table VII below.
   TABLE VII
   MUSLIMS MEMBERS in the 9
   TH PARLIAMENT ELECTION 2020
   Methods SJB SLPP NC ACMC SLMC MNA Total
   Elected 11 1 1 1 1 1 16
   National
   List
   1 3 04
   Total 20
   Source: The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
   Extraordinary, No. 2187/26
   I. CONCLUSION
   The outcome of the election will make a significant impact
   on the constitutional amendment. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was
   elected as president in late 2019. Following the 2019 April
   21st Easter attack, he has led a national security and pronationalism campaign camp. Through this, he was beloved by
   Sinhalese ethnic majority though he could not gain the
   favoritism from Tamil ethnic and Muslim religious minorities.
   The SLPP now has sustained a strong position in the
   parliament. Its victory affirmed that the president’s nationalist
   agenda and encouraged many of his policy positions. The
   objective of the party, to gain a two-thirds majority in the
   parliament. The two-third majority, which is the need for
   SLPP’s governance to amend the country’s political structure.
   specifically, by repealing the constitution’s 19th Amendment,
   to increase presidential powers relative to parliament and the
   judiciary. The SLPP is in a clear stand in their plans to amend
   the 19th Amendment.
   The people of Sri Lanka have strong political party
   affiliations. Based on that, people had voted their preferred
   political party in the last general election. But all of them,
   have a dual role in the general election, one is to give the party
   loyalty, and another one is to be an independent voter. But
   people failed to reject the candidates with the records of
   serious crime, financial fraud, inability, selfish and abused
   power while holding the public office in the last general
   election. In the year 2009, the 30-year armed struggle came to
   end. But yet, the issues that contributed to this civil war has
   been not resolved. For the resolving issues, the previous
   governments had appointed many commissions and expert
   committees. The previous governments supported
   arrangements for power-sharing and gave public assurances in
   this regard. On the perspective of Sri Lankan minorities, the
   people of Sri Lanka voted for the candidates who are yet to
   understand the need for diversity in the society and to the
   governance that promotes violence and discrimination against
   minority communities.
   But all ethnic groups of Sri Lanka have indeed voted for a
   government that gives importance to the Economic
   Development. Even the Tamil ethnic minority have given their
   importance to Economy development along with their ethnic
   rights.
   REFERENCE
   I. Agarwal, R.C, 1976, Political Theory, Chand &
   Company LTD, New Delhi
   II. Colombo Page News Desk, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
   Supreme Court Allows Dissolution of parliament
   and June 20 election
   Tue, Jun 2, 2020, 08:58 pm SL Time, URL Available
   on
   http://www.colombopage.com/archive_20A/Jun02_1
   591111706CH.php
   III. Dieter, Nohlen,1976, Election and Electoral
   System, Macmillan, New Delhi
   IV. Explained: What the massive election victory for
   Rajapaksa means for Sri Lanka, Indian express,
   August 9, 2020, 10:33:48 am, URL Available on
   https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/sri-lankaparliamentary-election-results-mahinda-rajapaksa6543889/
   V. General Election 2015, Parliament of Sri Lanka,
   URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/election-2015
   VI. General Election 2020, Parliament of Sri Lanka,
   URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/election-2020
   VII. News wire,14.08.2020, Female representation in
   9th Parliament of SL increases to 12, URL
   Available on
   http://www.newswire.lk/2020/08/14/18558-female/
   VIII. Parliament of Sri Lanka, Monday, August 10, 2020,
   Results URL Available on,
   https://www.parliament.lk/election-2020/
   IX. Parliament of Sri Lanka, Lady Members, URL
   Available on, https://www.parliament.lk/en/ladymembers
   X. People to polls for new P’ment today, Daily FT,
   Wednesday, 5 August 2020 03:43, URL Available on
   http://www.ft.lk/top-story/People-to-polls-for-new-Pment-today/26-704117
   XI. Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts, Parliament Elections
   Act (No. 1 of 1981) – Sect 10, URL Available on
   http://www.commonlii.org/lk/legis/num_act/pea1o19
   81259/s10.html
   International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 442
   ISSN 2250-3153
   This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10659 www.ijsrp.org
   XII. The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist
   Republic of Sri Lanka (As Amended Up to 15th
   May 2015) Revised Edition – 2015, Published by the
   XIII. parliament secretariat, URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf
   XIV. The Gazette of The Democratic Socialist Republic of
   Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No. 2165/8 – Monday,
   March 02, 2020, URL Available on
   http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2020/3/2165-
   08_E.pdf
   XV. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of
   Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, No. 2187/26 – Saturday,
   August 08, 2020, URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/uploads/documents/gazett
   es/20200808-2187-26-en.pdf
   XVI. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of
   Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, Declaration under Article
   99A of the Constitution, No. 2188/2 – Monday,
   August 10, 2020, URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/uploads/documents/gazett
   es/20200810-2188-2-en.pdf
   XVII. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of
   Sri Lanka, Extraordinary, Declaration under Article
   99A of the Constitution, No. 2188/46 – Friday,
   August 14, 2020, URL Available on
   https://www.parliament.lk/uploads/documents/gazett
   es/20200814-2188-46-en.pdf
   XVIII. The Scribd, 2020 General Election of Sri Lanka –
   All-Island Final Result – Votes, Seats and National
   List, on Aug 06, 2020, URL Available on
   https://www.scribd.com/document/471648359/2020-
   General-Election-of-Sri-Lanka-All-Island-FinalResult-Votes-Seats-and-National-List#from_embed
   XIX. Women in national parliaments, Situation as of 1
   st
   February 2019, URL Available on
   http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm
   XX. 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, Final Island
   wide Results, URL Available on
   https://results.elections.gov.lk/
   View publication stats