Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in 1956. They were a watershed in the country's political history, and was the first elections fought to realistically challenge the ruling United National Party. The former Leader of the House, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who was passed over after the death of the first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake, crossed over to the opposition to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to launch his bid for Prime Minister.
The UNP government of John Kotelawala had been rapidly losing steam. It faced widespread criticism over Ceylon's poor economic performance. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party now championed a popular socialist platform, calling for English to be replaced by Sinhala as the island's official language.
The UNP resisted this out of deference to Ceylon's Tamil minority, but changed its position in early 1956. This only served to cost the UNP its Tamil support while gaining it little among the Sinhalese.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party campaigned for parity of status between Sinhala and Tamil, with both to jointly replace English as the official language.
The Tamil parties campaigned to keep English as the official language.
The SLFP campaign of 1956 was the first in Ceylon's history where communal feelings against the minority Tamil community were deliberately stirred up by Sinhalese politicians for electoral gain. The SLFP tried to blame the high unemployment Sinhalese youth faced on the Tamils and in effect promised not to correct injustices but to openly discriminate against Tamils via a policy of official unilingualism.[citation needed]
The hard feelings from this campaign contributed towards the eruption, nearly three decades later, of the path to civil war.[citation needed]
However, it also changed the character of politics in the country from the elitism that had characterised it hitherto. Members of Parliament from other parties than the Left were middle class, working class or farmers. Henceforth electorates were addressed in their mother tongue at election meetings (as the LSSP and CP had done from inception) instead of English.[citation needed]
(PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
"1956 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013.
"Table 33 Parliament Election (1956)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
Rajasingham, K. T. (24 November 2001). . Asia Times. Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Archived from the original on 15 December 2001. Retrieved 3 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
May 18, 2023
1956, ceylonese, parliamentary, election, parliamentary, elections, were, held, ceylon, 1956, they, were, watershed, country, political, history, first, elections, fought, realistically, challenge, ruling, united, national, party, former, leader, house, bandar. Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in 1956 They were a watershed in the country s political history and was the first elections fought to realistically challenge the ruling United National Party The former Leader of the House S W R D Bandaranaike who was passed over after the death of the first Prime Minister D S Senanayake crossed over to the opposition to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to launch his bid for Prime Minister 1956 Ceylonese parliamentary election 1952 5 10 April 1956 March 1960 elected members 95 seats to the House of Representatives of Ceylon 48 seats were needed for a majority First party Second party Leader S W R D Bandaranaike N M PereraParty MEP LSSPLeader since 1956 1945Leader s seat Attanagalla RuwanwellaLast election 15 52 9 seats a 13 11 9 seatsSeats won 51 14Seat change 42 5Popular vote 1 046 277 274 204Percentage 39 52 10 36 Third party Fourth party Leader S J V Chelvanayakam John KotelawalaParty ITAK UNPLeader since 1949 1953Leader s seat Kankesanthurai DodangaslandaLast election 1 95 2 seats 44 08 54 seatsSeats won 10 8Seat change 8 46Popular vote 142 758 738 810Percentage 5 39 27 91 Prime Minister before electionJohn KotelawalaUNP Prime Minister designate S W R D BandaranaikeMahajana Eksath Peramuna Contents 1 Background 2 Results 3 Legacy 4 Notes 5 ReferencesBackground EditThe UNP government of John Kotelawala had been rapidly losing steam It faced widespread criticism over Ceylon s poor economic performance Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Freedom Party now championed a popular socialist platform calling for English to be replaced by Sinhala as the island s official language The UNP resisted this out of deference to Ceylon s Tamil minority but changed its position in early 1956 This only served to cost the UNP its Tamil support while gaining it little among the Sinhalese The Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party campaigned for parity of status between Sinhala and Tamil with both to jointly replace English as the official language The Tamil parties campaigned to keep English as the official language SLFP leader S W R D Bandaranaike assembled a coalition with a group of small Marxist parties to form the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Results EditBandaranaike s coalition obtained a solid majority government and he became prime minister PartyVotes SeatsMahajana Eksath Peramuna b 1 046 27739 5251United National Party738 81027 918Lanka Sama Samaja Party274 20410 3614Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi142 7585 3910Communist Party of Ceylon119 7154 523All Ceylon Tamil Congress8 9140 341Others and independents316 56911 968Total2 647 247100 0095Total votes2 391 538 Registered voters turnout3 464 15969 04Source Kusaka Research InstituteLegacy EditThe SLFP campaign of 1956 was the first in Ceylon s history where communal feelings against the minority Tamil community were deliberately stirred up by Sinhalese politicians for electoral gain The SLFP tried to blame the high unemployment Sinhalese youth faced on the Tamils and in effect promised not to correct injustices but to openly discriminate against Tamils via a policy of official unilingualism citation needed The hard feelings from this campaign contributed towards the eruption nearly three decades later of the path to civil war citation needed However it also changed the character of politics in the country from the elitism that had characterised it hitherto Members of Parliament from other parties than the Left were middle class working class or farmers Henceforth electorates were addressed in their mother tongue at election meetings as the LSSP and CP had done from inception instead of English citation needed Notes Edit As Sri Lanka Freedom Party Including the Sinhala Language Front the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party References Edit Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956 PDF Department of Elections Sri Lanka Archived from the original PDF on 24 September 2015 1956 General Election Results LankaNewspapers com Archived from the original on 27 January 2013 Table 33 Parliament Election 1956 Sri Lanka Statistics 10 February 2009 Rajasingham K T 24 November 2001 Chapter 16 Honorable wounds of war Asia Times Sri Lanka The Untold Story Archived from the original on 15 December 2001 Retrieved 3 October 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1956 Ceylonese parliamentary election amp oldid 1142246566, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
