Parliament of Sri Lanka
The Parliament of Sri Lanka, based in Sri Jayawardenepura ( Kotte ) is a unicameral parliament with 225 members.
Suffrage and electoral system
The right to vote, all citizens of Sri Lanka for over 18 years, provided they are not insane, sentenced to death or to imprisonment for six months or for electoral fraud. Selectable are citizens over 18 years who are not convicted of certain bankruptcy offenses or bribery. Members of the police and armed forces, members of the judiciary as well as holders of certain offices may not be deputies simultaneously.
196 MPs are (4 to 20 seats) elected every six years in 22 multiple -member constituencies by proportional representation with preferential system directly: Each voter casts his vote for a list, and three of its candidates from. As the barrier clause must achieve in a constituency list one eighth of the votes. 29 more seats are allocated in a nationwide constituency proportional to the lists.
The last parliamentary elections were held on 2 April 2004. The elections were brought forward by three years new elections after President Chandrika Kumaratunga (Sri Lanka Freedom Party, SLFP ) had dissolved Parliament on 7 February. Because of the Tamil conflict have tens of thousands of citizens, especially Tamils , their voices do not leave, because the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, despite the ceasefire officially in force hindered the election and many displaced people could not get to their polling stations. In advance of the elections occurred increased attacks and violent clashes between government forces and rebels.
64,000 policemen guarded the polling stations on election day, some 25,000 local and international election observers were also present. Apart from occasional allegations of electoral fraud in the northern province of election process itself has been described as a largely regular. The turnout was around 75 %.
The United People 's Freedom Alliance, the coalition of President Kamaratunga, won more than 4 million votes and 105 seats ( 12), while the previously ruling United National Front of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe won 3.5 million votes and 82 seats.
After the election of President instructed Kamaratunga the former opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa (SLFP ), as Prime Minister of governance. The new Parliament first met on 22 April 2004, as President of the Parliament WJM Lokubandara was elected.
After the dissolution of Parliament by Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka since 2005, in February 2010 to find the next parliamentary elections held on April 8, 2010.