Elections in Sri Lanka gives information on election

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 and election results in Sri Lanka

Politics of Sri Lanka

Politics of Sri Lanka takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both...

.

Sri Lanka elects on national level a head of state

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

 - the president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 - and a legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

. The president is elected for a six year term by the people. The Parliament

Parliament of Sri Lanka

The Parliament of Sri Lanka is the 225-member unicameral legislature of Sri Lanka. The members of Parliament are elected by proportional representation for six-year terms, with universal suffrage. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws...

has 225 members, elected for a six year term, 196 members elected in multi-seat constituencies

Electoral districts in Sri Lanka

The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka provides for the election of members of Parliament from 22 multi-member electoral districts through the proportional representation electoral system....

 through proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 system where each party is allocated a number of seats from the quota for each district according to the proportion of the total vote that party obtains in the district. The other 29 which is called the national list are appointed by each party secretary according to the island wide proportional vote the party obtains.

Sri Lanka has a multi party system, with two dominant political parties

Political Parties

Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...

,and with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.

2010 Presidential election

2010 Parliamentary election

External links

• Department of Elections
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• www.Srilankanelections.com - A website featuring Sri Lankan elections and results.