1999 Sri Lankan presidential election

4th Sri Lankan presidential election

21 December 1999
Turnout	73.31%
Nominee Chandrika Kumaratunga Ranil Wickramasinghe Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party United National Party Alliance People's Alliance Home state Gampaha District Colombo District States carried 17 5 Popular vote 4,312,157 3,602,748 Percentage 51.12% 42.71%
250px Winners of polling divisions. Kumaratunga in blue and Wickremasinghe in green.
President before election Chandrika Kumaratunga People's Alliance Elected President Chandrika Kumaratunga People's Alliance

The Sri Lankan presidential election of 1999 was the fourth presidential election of Sri Lanka. Nominations were accepted on 16 November 1999, and the election was held on 21 December 1999 Electoral participation was 73.31%. Incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga of the governing People's Alliance was re-elected for a second term, receiving 51% of all votes cast.

Background

Sri Lankan presidents are elected for six-year terms; with the previous election having taken place in 1994, an election normally would not have been held until 2000. Kumaratunga called the election early.

Kumaratunga campaigned to continue her actions against the Tamil Tigers, while her main opponent Ranil Wickremasinghe called for the commencement of direct negotiations with the Tigers.

Three days before the election, Kumaratunga was nearly killed by an Tamil Tiger assassination attempt at her final rally. She lost her right eye, and appeared heavily bandaged on television before the election.

Results

 Summary of the 1999 Sri Lankan presidential election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Chandrika Kumaratunga	People's Alliance	4,312,157	51.12%
	Ranil Wickremasinghe	United National Party	3,602,748	42.71%
	Nandana Gunathilake	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	344,173	4.08%
	Harischandra Wijayatunga	Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya	35,854	0.43%
	W. V. M. Ranjith	Independent	27,052	0.32%
	Rajiva Wijesinha	Liberal Party	25,085	0.30%
	Vasudeva Nanayakkara	Left & Democratic Alliance	23,668	0.28%
	Tennyson Edirisuriya	Independent	21,119	0.25%
	Abdul Rasool	Sri Lanka Muslim Party	17,359	0.21%
	Kamal Karunadasa	People's Liberation Solidarity Front	11,333	0.13%
	Hudson Samarasinghe	Independent	7,184	0.09%
	Ariyawansa Dissanayaka	Democratic United National Front	4,039	0.05%
	A. W. Premawardhana	People's Freedom Front	3,983	0.05%
Valid Votes			8,435,754	100.00%
Rejected Votes			199,536
Total Polled			8,635,290
Registered Electors			11,779,200
Turnout			73.31%