March 2014 Sri Lankan provincial council elections

6th Sri Lankan provincial council election

← 2013 29 March 2014 2014 (Sep) →

159 seats across 2 provincial councils
Turnout66.35%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Ranil Wickremasinghe
Party UPFA UNP
Popular vote 2,063,083 990,113
Percentage 54.86% 26.33%
Councillors 89 42
Councils 2 0

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Sarath Fonseka Anura Kumara Dissanayake
Party Democratic JVP
Popular vote 279,299 265,240
Percentage 7.43% 7.05%
Councillors 12 11
Councils 0 0

Provincial council elections were held in Sri Lanka on 29 March 2014 to elect 159 members to two of the nine provincial councils in the country. 5.9 million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election. Elections to a third provincial council (Uva) were held on 20 September. Elections to the remaining six provincial councils were not due as they had their last election in 2012 or 2013.

The United People's Freedom Alliance's domination of Sri Lankan elections continued as expected. It retained control of both Southern Provincial Council and Western Provincial Council. However, the UPFA recorded a loss of votes in both provinces as did the main opposition party, the United National Party, in the Western Province. Instead, many analysts assert a large protest vote was evident during this provincial election with many either opting not to vote or to vote for minor parties such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Democratic Party and Democratic People's Front.