1947 Ceylonese parliamentary election
23 August–20 September 1947
95 seats in the House of Representatives of Ceylon
48 seats were needed for a majority
TurnoutIncrease61.3%
  First party Second party
 
Leader D. S. Senanayake N. M. Perera
Party UNP LSSP
Leader since 1946 1945
Leader's seat Mirigama Ruwanwella
Seats won Increase42 Increase10
Popular vote 751,432 204,020
Percentage Increase39.81% Increase10.81%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader G. G. Ponnambalam Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
Party All Ceylon Tamil Congress Ceylon Indian Congress
Leader since 1944 1939
Leader's seat Jaffna Nuwara Eliya
Seats won Increase7 Increase6
Popular vote 82,499 72,230
Percentage Increase4.37% Increase3.83%
Prime Minister before election

Position established

 Prime Minister-designate

D. S. Senanayake
UNP

Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon between 23 August and 20 September 1947. They were the first elections overseen and administered by the newly formed Department of Parliamentary Elections.[1]

Background

This is considered the first national election held in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). Although it took place before independence was actually granted, it was the first election under the Soulbury Constitution.

Some of the major figures who had led the independence struggle were found in the right-wing United National Party led by D.S. Senanayake. In opposition were the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Bolshevik Leninist Party of India, the Communist Party of Ceylon, the Ceylon Indian Congress and an array of independents.

Results

Senanayake's UNP fell short of a majority, but was able to form a government in coalition with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, which had taken most of the seats in the Tamil-majority regions of the island.

Sri Lanka obtained full independence as a dominion in 1948. The British nevertheless retained military bases in the country and English remained as the official language along with much of the administrative system put in place by the British along with British officials.

PartyVotes%Seats
United National Party751,43239.8142
Lanka Sama Samaja Party204,02010.8110
BSP–BLP113,1936.005
All Ceylon Tamil Congress82,4994.377
Ceylon Indian Congress72,2303.836
Communist Party of Ceylon70,3313.733
Ceylon Labour Party38,9322.061
United Lanka Congress3,9530.210
Swaraj Party1,3930.070
Independents549,38129.1121
Total1,887,364100.0095
Total votes1,701,150–
Registered voters/turnout3,048,14555.81
Source: Nohlen et al.[2][lower-alpha 1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Actual turnout was slightly higher due to H. S. Ismail (UNP) being elected from Puttalam Electoral District without a contest.

References

  1. ↑ "Elections Department in the limelight". ft.lk. Daily Financial Times. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, pp709–722 ISBN 0-19-924958-X

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