16th Parliament of Sri Lanka

The 16th parliamentary election was held on 5 August 2020.^[3] The incumbent Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance claimed a landslide victory in the election claiming the majority winning 145 seats,^[4][5][6] while the newly formed Samagi Jana Balawegaya won a total of 54 seats and the National People's Power won 3 seats.^[7][8][9] The main opposition United National Party suffered their worst ever landslide defeat in history, claiming only one national seat and receiving the fifth most votes in the elections.^[10]

National

More information Alliances and parties, Votes ...

Summary of the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election^[15][16][17]

Alliances and parties		Votes	%	Seats
				District	National	Total	+/–
	Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance[i] Ceylon Workers' Congress Mahajana Eksath Peramuna National Congress[ii] National Freedom Front Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Socialist Alliance Communist Party of Sri Lanka Democratic Left Front[iii] Lanka Sama Samaja Party[iv] National Liberation People's Party Sri Lanka People's Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party[v] Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	6,853,690	59.09%	128	17	145	50
	Samagi Jana Balawegaya All Ceylon Makkal Congress[vi] Jathika Hela Urumaya Sri Lanka Muslim Congress[vii] Tamil Progressive Alliance National Union of Workers United Progressive Alliance Democratic People's Front Up-Country People's Front United National Party (Sajith wing)	2,771,980	23.90%	47	7	54	New
	Tamil National Alliance[viii] Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization	327,168	2.82%	9	1	10	6
	National People's Power Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna	445,958	3.84%	2	1	3	3
	Tamil National People's Front[ix] All Ceylon Tamil Congress	67,766	0.58%	1	1	2	2
	Eelam People's Democratic Party	61,464	0.53%	2	0	2	1
	United National Party (Ranil wing)	249,435	2.15%	0	1	1	105
	Our Power of People's Party Bodu Bala Sena	67,758	0.58%	0	1	1	1
	Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal[x]	67,692	0.58%	1	0	1	1
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party[v]	66,579	0.57%	1	0	1	1
	Muslim National Alliance	55,981	0.48%	1	0	1	1
	Tamil People's National Alliance Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Eelam Tamil Self Rule Party Tamil National Party Tamil People's Council	51,301	0.44%	1	0	1	1
	All Ceylon Makkal Congress[vi]	43,319	0.37%	1	0	1	1
	National Congress[ii]	39,272	0.34%	1	0	1	1
	Sri Lanka Muslim Congress[vii]	34,428	0.30%	1	0	1
	Independents	223,622	1.93%	0	0	0
	United Peace Alliance	31,054	0.27%	0	0	0
	All Lanka Tamil Mahasabha	30,031	0.26%	0	0	0
	National Development Front	14,686	0.13%	0	0	0
	Frontline Socialist Party	14,522	0.13%	0	0	0
	Social Democratic Party of Tamils	11,464	0.10%	0	0	0
	Tamil United Liberation Front	9,855	0.08%	0	0	0
	Socialist Party of Sri Lanka	9,368	0.08%	0	0	0
	People's Welfare Front	7,361	0.06%	0	0	0
	Sinhalese National Front	5,056	0.04%	0	0	0
	New Democratic Front	4,883	0.04%	0	0	0
	United Left Front	4,879	0.04%	0	0	0
	Liberal Democratic Party (Sri Lanka)	4,345	0.04%	0	0	0
	National People's Party	3,813	0.03%	0	0	0
	Democratic United National Front	3,611	0.03%	0	0	0
	National Democratic Front	3,488	0.03%	0	0	0
	Sri Lanka Labour Party	3,134	0.03%	0	0	0
	Democratic Left Front	2,964	0.03%	0	0	0
	New Sinhala Heritage	1,397	0.01%	0	0	0
	United Socialist Party	1,189	0.01%	0	0	0
	Motherland People's Party	1,087	0.01%	0	0	0
	Eelavar Democratic Front	1,035	0.01%	0	0	0
	Socialist Equality Party	780	0.01%	0	0	0
	Lanka Sama Samaja Party[iv]	737	0.01%	0	0	0
	All Are Citizens All Are Kings Organization	632	0.01%	0	0	0
	Democratic Unity Alliance	145	0.00%	0	0	0
	Independents					42
Valid Votes		11,598,929	100.00%	196	29	225
Rejected Votes		744,373	6.03%
Total Polled		12,343,302	75.89%
Registered Electors		16,263,885
Footnotes: [i] The SLPFA contested under the name and symbol of SLPP. [ii] The NC contested separately in two districts (Ampara and Polonnaruwa) and with the SLPFA in other districts. [iii] The DLF contested separately in two districts (Jaffna and Vanni) and with the SLPFA in other districts. [iv] The LSSP contested separately in one district (Jaffna) and with the SLPFA in other districts. [v] The SLFP contested separately in three districts (Jaffna, Kalutara and Nuwara Eliya) and with the SLPFA in other districts. [vi] The ACMC contested separately in one district (Ampara) and with the SJB in other districts. [vii] The SLMC contested separately in one district (Batticaloa) and with the SJB in other districts. [viii] The TNA contested under the name and symbol of ITAK. [ix] The TNPF contested under the name and symbol of ACTC. [x]

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The Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance was able to form a government with a firm supermajority, with Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister.

Amidst nationwide protests in 2022, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned and Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as his successor.

On 13 July 2022, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned on 14 July 2022.^[18] Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected president by the parliament on 20 July and Dinesh Gunawardena was appointed as prime minister by president Wickremesinghe.^[19]

On 5 March 2024, the main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya handed over a no-confidence motion against Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, claiming that his actions failed to protect the Constitution of Sri Lanka by allowing the signature of the Online Safety Bill.^[20][21][22] The motion was debated from 19 to 21 March, and was defeated with 75 votes for and 117 votes against.^[23][24]

On 23 September 2024, Prime Minister Gunawardena resigned, following NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake's victory in the 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election and subsequent inauguration.^[25] The following day, Dissanayake appointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister.^[26] The same day, Dissanayake dissolved the parliament and called for snap parliamentary elections in November 2024.^[27][28]

• The 20th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed in October 2020.
• The 21st Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed in October 2022.
• The Online Safety Bill was passed in January 2024.

The following are the changes in party and alliance affiliations for the 16th parliament.

• 5 April 2022 − 9 SLPP MPs and 16 more MPs formerly allied with the SLPFA government leave the government to work as independent MPs. The 14 SLFP MPs, 2 CWC MPs and ACMC MP Muszhaaraff Muthunabeen leave the SLPFA government and cross over to the opposition.^[29]
• 12 May 2022 − UNP MP Ranil Wickremesinghe is appointed as Prime Minister and joins the SLPFA government.
• 31 August 2022 − 13 SLPP MPs leave the government and cross over to the opposition as independent MPs, including SLPP chairman G. L. Peiris and SLPP MP Dullas Alahapperuma.^[30]
• 15 November 2022 – 6 SLPP MPs leave the government and join the SJB.^[31]
• 18 July 2023 – 2 SJB MPs (Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara) are expelled from their party for their support for the government. The 2 MPs cross over to the government as independent MPs, and are readmitted into the UNP a month later.^[32][33]
• 6 October 2023 – SLMC MP Ahamed Nazeer Zainulabdeen is expelled from his party and loses his parliamentary seat for his support for the government. His replacement sides with the opposition, thus resulting in one seat less for the government.^[34]
• 1 January 2024 – SLFP MP Shan Wijayalal De Silva crosses over to the SJB.^[35]