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The first Manape vote is cast
A new Constitution was enacted in 1978. It introduced two major Constitutional changes. One was the Executive Presidential system. The other was the system of Proportional Representation in Parliament.

On February 4, 1978, J.R. Jayewardene took his oaths as the first Executive President of the Republic of Sri Lanka before Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon. Leader of the House Ranasinghe Premadasa was appointed Prime Minister.

Following the findings of a Presidential Commission on October 16, 1980, Mrs. Bandaranaike was deprived of her civic rights for seven years having been found guilty of misuse and abuse of power.

The Eighth Parliament continued until the end of 1988 following a Referendum held on December 22, 1982 whereby the majority accepted the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution extending the life of Parliament to a second six-year term beginning August 3, 1983.

Parliament was dissolved on December 18, 1988 and the General Election was fixed for February 15, 1989. Unlike in previous elections when nominations were handed over on one day, one week was allocated to hand in nominations. 1396 candidates from nine political parties and seven independent groups handed in nominations.

While the UNP contested the elections along with the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the SLFP had an alliance with the Liberal Party and the Democratic Workers Congress. The LSSP, Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) and CP Moscow contested together as the United Socialist Alliance (USA). The Tamil United Front (TULF) contested with the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Eelam National Democratic Front (ENDLF) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO). The other parties were the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Democratic People's Liberation Front (DPLF) and Eksath Lanka Janatha Party (ELJP).

Proportional Representation (PR) replaced the 58-year-old 'first-past-the-post' system when the candidate polling the largest number of votes was declared the winner. Under PR, the voter gives his/her vote first to a party and then to three candidates nominated by the party. Candidates are given serial numbers in the order in which their names appear on nomination lists, which are arranged according to the Sinhala alphabet.

The number of seats for each province is determined by the number of registered voters in the Province. The island is divided into 22 Electoral Districts electing 196 members in a 225 member Parliament. The balance 29 are named from National Lists submitted by political parties and independent groups to the Commissioner of Elections.

For a party or a group to be in the contest, it has to poll 5% of the valid votes cast, which is the cut-off point. Though it was originally suggested that the cut-off point should be 12.5%, it was brought down in order to ensure representation of minor parties. At the counting of votes, the party or group that polls the highest number of votes in a district is awarded one seat and the balance is awarded in proportion to the votes obtained by each party or group.

A candidate now had to cover a wide area unlike earlier when he had to canvass only a particular electorate. The 1989 February General Election was held amidst violence, bombs and shootings in the South, and a call for a boycott in the North and East. The turnout was less, recording 63.6% of the total voters, as compared with 86.7% at the previous General Election (1977). (The party line-up is shown in the box above.)

The presence of an International Group of Observers was a 'first' at a General Election on the invitation of the Commissioner of Elections, Chandrananda de Silva. This was a move to ensure a free and fair election. The Group represented several international agencies - the Non-Aligned Movement, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, All Party Parliamentary Group, Christian Democrat International, the Liberal International and the non-governmental observer group from SAARC countries who had observed the Presidential Election in 1988.

In its Report, the Observer Group stated that despite certain qualifications, “it is the opinion of the observers that by and large the Parliamentary Election was free and fair in most areas. However, the group is concerned at the malpractices reported in some areas and widespread climate of violence and intimidation, both of which need to be eliminated.

“It is the group's firm belief that the people and authorities of Sri Lanka share this concern, given their own strong commitment to maintaining the highest traditions of democracy.” By the time of the 1989 General Election, R. Premadasa was no longer Prime Minister having been elected President on December 19, 1988 following President J.R. Jayewardene stepping down after two terms of office. President Premadasa appointed D.B. Wijetunga (UNP-Mahanuwara District) as Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Mrs. Bandaranaike who had returned to Parliament became Leader of the Opposition. M.H. Mohamed (UNP-Colombo) was elected Speaker.

The Ninth Parliament was dissolved on June 24, 1994. Nominations to the Tenth Parliament were accepted during the week July 4 - 11 and polling was fixed for August 16, 1994. Thirteen parties and 26 independent groups fielded candidates. Among the 1449 candidates who handed in nominations, 40 were women.

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