Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1952

2nd Ceylonese parliamentary election

1947 ← 24-30 May 1952 → 1956

95 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon 48 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Dudley Senanayake S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike N. M. Perera Party United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Lanka Sama Samaja Party Leader's seat Dedigama Attanagalla Ruwanwella Seats won 54 9 9 Popular vote 1,026,005 361,250 305,133 Percentage 44.08% 15.52% 13.11%

Prime Minister before election Dudley Senanayake United National Party Prime Minister-designate Dudley Senanayake United National Party

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1952.

Background

Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952, and was succeeded by his son, Dudley. The national wave of mourning for Ceylon's first prime minister greatly boosted the UNP's fortunes.

The 1952 election was the first contested by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had broken away from the UNP on a platform of Sinhala nationalism, and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party), which split from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress over joining the UNP government.

Results

Because the estate Tamils had been stripped of their citizenship by the Senanayake government, the Ceylon Indian Congress, which most of them had supported, was eliminated from Parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party lost seats. The UNP won a majority, mainly at the cost of the CIC and the LSSP.^{[citation needed]}

e • d Summary of the 1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats
	United National Party	81	1,026,005	44.08	54
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	48	361,250	15.52	9
	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	39	305,133	13.11	9
	Communist Party of Ceylon / Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party	19	134,528	5.78	4
	All Ceylon Tamil Congress	7	64,512	2.77	4
	Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi	7	45,331	1.95	2
	Labour Party	5	27,096	1.16	1
	Republican Party	9	33,001	1.42	0
	Buddhist Republican Party	3	3,987	0.17	0
	Independents	88	326,783	14.04	12
Valid Votes		306	2,327,626	100.00	95
Rejected Votes
Total Votes Polled
Total Electors Polled1			2,114,615
Registered Electors			2,990,912
Turnout			70.70%
Source: Sri Lanka Statistics 1. Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.

References

• "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1952%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF. 
• "1952 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/election/general_election1952.jsp. 
• "Table 32 Parliament Election (1952)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009. http://www.jpp.co.jp/lanka/gov/govd/govde/gov32e.htm. 
• Rajasingham, K. T. (10 November 2001). "Chapter 14: Post-colonial realignment of political forces". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CK10Df03.html.