At stake in this election:

• 225 seats in the Parliament

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mahinda Percy RAJAPAKSA *
• Head of Government: President Mahinda Percy RAJAPAKSA
• Assembly: Sri Lanka has a unicameral Parliament with 225 seats.

* Under the contingent vote system, voters may rank up to three candidates. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round of counting, ballots whose first rankings are eliminated candidates are redistributed to the next-ranked candidates on those ballots. The winner is the candidate with the most votes after this second round of counting.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected through a contingent vote system to serve a 6-year term.
• In the Parliament 225 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 6-year terms.***

*** Parties must clear a threshold of one-eighth of votes to win seats in the respective constituency. Each voter may cast three preference votes. There are 22 multi-member constituencies containing 196 seats and one nationwide constituency with 29 seats.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Alliance: United People's Freedom Alliance / (UPFA)
  • Leader: Percy Mahendra RAJAPAKSA
  • Seats won in last election: 105
• Party: United National Party (UNP)
  • Leader: Ranil WICKREMESINGHE
  • Seats won in last election: 82
• Party: Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP)
  • Leader: Sivanesathurai CHANDRAKANTHAN
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
  • Leader: Rajavarothiam SAMPANTHAN
  • Seats won in last election: 22
• Party: Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa
  • Leader: Somawansa AMARASINGHE
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 21,324,791 (July 2009 )
• Registered Voters: 14,088,500 (April 2010)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 10,328,410 (2010)

·         Is Sri Lanka a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Sri Lanka ratified CEDAW: Yes (5 October 1981)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 12 (following the 2010 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 73 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Sri Lanka a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Sri Lanka ratified CRPD: Yes (8 February 2016)

·         Population with a disability: 3,198,718 (est.)