1982 Sri Lankan national referendum

1982 Sri Lankan national referendum

22 December 1982 (1982-12-22)
Do you approve the Bill entitled the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution published in Gazette Extraordinary No 218/23 of November 13, 1982, which provides inter alia that unless sooner dissolved the First parliament shall continue until August 4, 1989, and no longer and shall thereupon stand dissolved.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 3,141,223 54.66% No 2,605,983 45.34% Valid votes 5,747,206 99.63% Invalid or blank votes 21,456 0.37% Total votes 5,768,662 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 8,145,015 70.82%
Results by district

The 1982 Sri Lankan national referendum took place on December 22, 1982, giving the people of Sri Lanka the option to extend the life of parliament by 6 years. It was the first and so far only national referendum to be held in Sri Lanka.^[1] The referendum was called for by President J. R. Jayawardene, who had been elected to a fresh six-year term as President in October 1982. With the life of the current parliament due to expire in August 1983, Jayawardene faced the possibility of his ruling United National Party losing its massive supermajority in parliament if regular general elections were held. He therefore proposed a referendum to extend the life of parliament, with its constituents unchanged, thereby permitting the United National Party to maintain its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

President Jayawardene claimed that he needed the existing parliament to complete work on the programs he had begun, hence the referendum to extend its term. Opposition parties saw the referendum as a dictatorial move by Jayawardene, strongly opposed the referendum and campaigned to defeat the proposed extension of parliament via referendum.

At the polls, voters were presented the proposal to extend the life of parliament, and asked to vote either “yes” or “no”. Over 54 percent of votes cast were in favor on extending the life of parliament. The existing parliament was therefore extended for six further years beginning in August 1983, and served out its mandate until the 1989 general elections.