Sri Lankan presidential election, 2010

The Sri Lankan presidential election of 2010 was the sixth presidential election of Sri Lanka. The election was announced on 23 November 2009 when incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to seek a fresh mandate prior to the expiration of his term in 2011. Nominations were accepted on 17 December 2009, and the election was held on 26 January 2010.

Rajapaksa, who was elected president for a 6-year term in November 2005, was the candidate of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance. General Sarath Fonseka, a former commander of the Sri Lankan Army, was his main opponent in the election. Fonseka had been endorsed by a number of main opposition parties, including the United National Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

President Rajapaksa proceeded to win re-election, over 57% of all votes cast. Fonseka received over 40%, carrying the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. The remaining twenty candidates all garnered less than 0.5% of the popular vote.

In 2005, Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected to his first term as president, defeating former prime minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, the United National Party (UNP) candidate. Before the election, Mahinda Rajapaksa was Prime Minister under President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Rajapaksa won a narrow victory, by 190,000 votes, or 50.29% of the popular vote. The separatist Tamil Tigers had called for a boycott of the election in the Northern and Eastern provinces, resulting in a minimal turnout, which the opposition claimed resulted in their defeat.

The Constitution of Sri Lanka allows the president to ask for a fresh election after four years into his first term of office (per the Constitution, a President is elected to a six-year term). Accordinly, President Rajapaksa informed the Commissioner of Elections on 23 November 2009 of his intention to hold a presidential election before the end of his current term of office.

Results

District results_{From Wikipedia}

Official district-by-district results of the election are listed below.

Districts won by Rajapaksa

Districts won by Fonseka

District	Province	Rajapaksa	Percentage	Fonseka	Percentage	Others	Percentage	Turnout
Anuradhapura	North Central	298,448	66.32%	143,761	31.94%	7,829	1.74%	78.35%
Badulla	Uva	237,579	53.23%	198,835	44.55%	9,880	2.21%	78.70%
Batticaloa	Eastern	55,663	26.27%	146,057	68.93%	10,171	4.80%	64.83%
Colombo	Western	614,740	52.93%	533,022	45.90%	13,620	1.17%	77.06%
Digamadulla	Eastern	146,912	47.92%	153,105	49.94%	10,171	4.80%	73.54%
Galle	Southern	386,971	63.69%	211,633	34.83%	9,017	1.48%	80.25%
Gampaha	Western	718,716	61.66%	434,506	37.28%	12,426	1.07%	79.66%
Hambantota	Southern	226,887	67.21%	105,336	31.20%	5,341	1.58%	80.67%
Jaffna	Northern	44,154	24.75%	113,877	63.84%	20,338	11.40%	25.66%
Kalutara	Western	412,562	63.06%	231,807	35.43%	9,880	1.51%	81.01%
Kegalle	Sabaragamuwa	296,639	61.80%	174,877	36.44%	8,448	1.76%	78.76%
Kurunegala	North Western	582,784	63.08%	327,594	35.46%	13,515	1.46%	78.62%
Mahanuwara	Central	406,636	54.16%	329,492	43.89%	14,658	1.95%	78.26%
Matale	Central	157,953	59.74%	100,513	38.01%	5,953	2.25%	77.94%
Matara	Southern	296,155	65.53%	148,510	32.86%	7,264	1.61%	78.60%
Monaragala	Uva	158,435	69.01%	66,803	29.10%	4,346	1.89%	77.12%
Nuwara Eliya	Central	151,604	43.77%	180,604	52.14%	14,174	4.09%	77.19%
Polonnauwa	North Central	144,889	64.92%	75,026	33.62%	3,260	1.46%	80.13%
Puttalam	North Western	201,981	58.70%	136,233	39.59%	5,899	1.71%	70.02%
Ratnapura	Sabaragamuwa	377,734	63.76%	203,566	34.36%	11,126	1.88%	81.24%
Trincomalee	Eastern	69,752	43.04%	87,661	54.09%	4,659	2.87%	68.22%
Vanni	Northern	28,740	27.31%	70,367	66.86%	6,145	5.84%	40.33%

National results

Summary of the 2010 Sri Lankan presidential election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mahinda Rajapaksa	United People's Freedom Alliance	6,015,934	57.88%
	Sarath Fonseka	New Democratic Front	4,173,185	40.15%
	Mohomad Cassim Mohomad Ismail	Democratic United National Front	39,226	0.38%
	Achala Ashoka Suraweera	National Development Front	26,266	0.25%
	Channa Janaka Sugathsiri Gamage	United Democratic Front	23,290	0.22%
	W. V. Mahiman Ranjith	Independent	18,747	0.18%
	A. S. P Liyanage	Sri Lanka Labour Party	14,220	0.14%
	Sarath Manamendra	New Sinhala Heritage	9,684	0.09%
	M. K. Shivajilingam	Independent	9,662	0.09%
	Ukkubanda Wijekoon	Independent	9,381	0.09%
	Lal Perera	Our National Front	9,353	0.09%
	Siritunga Jayasuriya	United Socialist Party	8,352	0.08%
	Vikramabahu Karunaratne	Left Front	7,055	0.07%
	Aithurus M. Illias	Independent	6,131	0.06%
	Wije Dias	Socialist Equality Party	4,195	0.04%
	Sanath Pinnaduwa	National Alliance	3,523	0.03%
	M. Mohamed Musthaffa	Independent	3,134	0.03%
	Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero	Jana Setha Peramuna	2,770	0.03%
	Senaratna de Silva	Patriotic National Front	2,620	0.03%
	Aruna de Zoyza	Ruhuna People's Party	2,618	0.03%
	Upali Sarath Kongahage	United National Alternative Front	2,260	0.02%
	Muthu Bandara Theminimulla	All Are Citizens, All Are Kings Organisation	2,007	0.02%
Valid Votes			10,393,613	100.00%
Rejected Votes			101,838
Total Polled			10,495,451
Registered Electors			14,088,500
Turnout			74.50%
Source: Department of Elections, Sri Lanka

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