1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election

General elections were held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1952. It is notable for being the second and final election overseen and administered by the Department of Parliamentary Elections before its merger in 1955.[1]

2nd Ceylonese parliamentary election

24–30 May 1952
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 since 1952 1951 1945 Leader's seat Dedigama Attanagalla Ruwanwella Last election 42 Seats, 39.81% New Party 10 Seats, 10.81% Seats won 54 9 9 Seat change 12 1 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

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.

Summary of the 1952 Ceylonese parliamentary election[2]

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
	Ceylon 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 Polled[lower-alpha 1]			2,114,615
Registered Electors			2,990,912
Turnout			70.70%

Notes

1. Total electors polled is less than total votes polled due to multiple-member seats where electors can cast more than one vote.

References

1. "Elections Department in the limelight". ft.lk. Daily Financial Times. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
2. "Table 32 Parliament Election (1952)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.

• "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
• "1952 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012.
• "Table 32 Parliament Election (1952)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
• Rajasingham, K. T. (10 November 2001). "Chapter 14: Post-colonial realignment of political forces". Asia Times. Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.