1989 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 15 February 1989, the first since 1977. The elections that should normally have been held by 1983 had been cancelled by the 1982 referendum.

1989 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

← 1977 15 February 1989 1994 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 225 seats in the Parliament of Sri Lanka 113 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	63.60%
First party Second party   Leader Ranasinghe Premadasa Sirimavo Bandaranaike Party UNP SLFP Leader since 1988 1960 Leader's seat n/a Gampaha District Last election 50.92%, 140 seats 29.72%, 8 seats Seats won 125 67 Seat change 15 59 Popular vote 2,838,005 1,785,369 Percentage 50.71% 31.90% Swing 0.21pp 2.18pp
Winners of electoral districts. UNP in green and SLFP in blue.
Prime Minister before election Ranasinghe Premadasa UNP Prime Minister-designate Dingiri Banda Wijetunga UNP

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				District	National	Total
	United National Party[a]	2,838,005	50.71	110	15	125
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1,785,369	31.90	58	9	67
	Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students[b]	229,877	4.11	12	1	13
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	202,016	3.61	3	1	4
	Tamil United Liberation Front[c]	188,594	3.37	9	1	10
	United Socialist Alliance[d]	160,271	2.86	2	1	3
	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	91,128	1.63	2	1	3
	United Lanka People's Party	67,723	1.21	0	0	0
	Democratic People's Liberation Front[e]	18,502	0.33	0	0	0
	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	7,610	0.14	0	0	0
	Independents	7,373	0.13	0	0	0
Total		5,596,468	100.00	196	29	225
Valid votes		5,596,468	93.87
Invalid/blank votes		365,563	6.13
Total votes		5,962,031	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,374,164	63.60
Source: Election Commission

By province

Further information: Results of the 1989 Sri Lankan general election by province

By electoral district

Further information: Results of the 1989 Sri Lankan general election by electoral district

Notes

1. Including the Ceylon Workers' Congress.
2. Contested as an independent group in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Vanni.
3. Consisting of the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front, the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and the Tamil United Liberation Front.
4. Consisting of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the Nava Sama Samaja Party and Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya.
5. Including the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam.