Sri Lanka has held several rounds of Provincial Council elections in 2008 and 2009 to elect members to eight of the country’s Provincial Councils. The decision to hold elections in different parts of the country on separate days was a break in the usual practice, which is to hold elections for the whole country on the same day. For each provincial council, members are elected to serve a five-year term. A chief minister for the province is chosen by the elected members.

Quick Facts 417 seats across 8 provincial councils, Turnout ...

5th Sri Lankan provincial council election

← 2004 10 May 2008, 23 August 2008, 14 February 2009 25 April 2009, 8 August 2009, 10 October 2009 2012 →
417 seats across 8 provincial councils
Turnout	65.84%
First party Second party   Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Ranil Wickremasinghe Party UPFA UNP Popular vote 5,137,170 2,609,386 Percentage 63.10% 32.05% Councillors 269 131 Councils 8 0
Winners of polling divisions. UPFA in blue and UNP in green.

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The first election was held in May 2008 to elect members to Sri Lanka's Eastern Provincial Council. In August 2008, elections were held in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. In 2009, elections were held for Central and North Western Provincial Councils in February, for the Western Provincial Council in April, for the Uva Provincial Council in August and for the Southern Provincial Council in October. No election was held for the ninth provincial council, Northern, which had been governed directly by the national government since it was demerged from the North Eastern Provincial Council in January 2007.

The elections were largely seen as a referendum on the handling of the civil war by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse.^[1] Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance and its allies registered resounding victories over the opposition United National Party in all the elections.^[2][3]

In an attempt to end the Sri Lankan Civil War the Indo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987. One of the requirements of the accord was that the Sri Lankan government to devolve powers to the provinces.^[4] Accordingly on 14 November 1987 the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987.^[5][6] On 3 February 1988 nine provincial councils were created by order.^[7] The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in North Central, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva provinces.^[8] On 2 June 1988 elections were held for provincial councils for Central, Southern and Western provinces. The United National Party (UNP), which was in power nationally, won control of all seven provincial councils.

The Indo-Lanka Accord also required the merger of the Eastern and Northern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his discretion.^[4] On September 2 and 8 1988 President Jayewardene issued proclamations enabling the Eastern and Northern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected council, creating the North Eastern Province.^[7] Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were held on 19 November 1988. The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, an Indian backed paramilitary group, won control of the North Eastern provincial council.

On 1 March 1990, just as the Indian Peace Keeping Force were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Annamalai Varatharajah Perumal, Chief Minister of the North Eastern Province, moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council declaring an independent Eelam.^[9] President Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province.^{[citation needed]}

The 2nd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1993 in seven provinces. The UNP retained control of six provincial councils but lost control of the largest provincial council, Western, to the opposition People's Alliance. A special election was held in Southern Province in 1994 after some UNP provincial councillors defected to the opposition. The PA won the election and took control of the Southern Provincial Council.^{[citation needed]}

The 3rd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1999 in seven provinces. The PA, which was now in power nationally, managed to win the majority of seats in two provinces (North Central and North Western). It was also able to form a majority administration in the other five provinces with the support of smaller parties such as the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) . The UNP regained control of the Central Provincial Council in 2002 after the CWC councillors crossed over to the opposition.^[10]

The 4th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2004 in seven provinces. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the successor to the PA, won all seven provinces.^{[citation needed]}

The UPFA won all eight provinces.