2019 Sri Lankan presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 16 November 2019. The incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena's term of office would have ended on 9 January 2020. This was the first Presidential election in Sri Lanka where no sitting president, prime minister or opposition leader was contesting for president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won this election to Sajith Premadasa. The results were released on 17 November 2019 and Rajapaksa managed to cross the majority mark to win the election. The next election is scheduled for 2024. Prior to the election. Poll prediction. Both main candidates have had  their own surveys carried out with the results claiming victory for each of them. Earlier circulated polls prediction which was claimed done by National Intelligence Service was proved false and manipulated. Nominations. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. After the massive victory they have got in Local Election, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna is looking to run for the presidential election. Chamal, Basil and Gotabaya being mentioned as credible prospects. Calls for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run have been made though he is ineligible due to his possession of foreign citizenship. Basil Rajapaksa also holds foreign citizenship and is therefore ineligible. On 12 January  he announced he was ready to run in the elections if he had the support for it. Though his announcement stunned senior SLPP leaders who did not know beforehand. Chamal Rajapaksa has also signalled his potential candidacy saying that he would "willingly consider it if the party nominates him as the next Presidential Candidate", soon after the announcement of his brother. Chamal Rajapaksa has not decided whether to contest from the SLFP or the SLPP but prefers a candidate that has the support of both. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the leading figure of the war victory of Sri Lanka and development  process of Colombo metro region and northern province. In March Chamal denied that neither him nor Basil would contest but avoided commenting about Gotabaya while the SLPP announced that they favour Gotabaya unless someone better is found. Gotabaya already had a well organized campaign promoting him and according to D. B. S Jeyraj the Rajapaksa family has chosen to support Gotabaya as the candidate and is renouncing his US citizenship. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on 11th of 6 days after the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, announced his candidacy for president. On 11 August Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Sri Lanka Podujana Party  officially announces his brother Gotabaya to be its presidential candidate, while Mahinda runs as his Prime Ministerial candidate. United National Party (UNP). United National Party did not field a presidential candidate in either the 2010 and 2015 elections and supported a common candidate. Even though they won the 2015 election and elected Maithripala Sirisena from their support, UNP expenditure for the election period is 500lkr million relations between the president and the UNP was shaky from the beginning. Power struggle between the president and UNP prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe led to the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis. In the aftermath  of the events, most of the UNP members publicly expressed their regret supporting a common candidate in 2015 and promised to field their own presidential candidate in 2019 elections. Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was the obvious choice for the candidacy and he reportedly expressed his intentions to run for the presidency in a meeting with other senior members. Meanwhile, several rebel MPs including Mangala Samaraweera, Harin Fernando, Ajith Perera, Harsha de Silva, Sujeewa Senasinghe wanted deputy leader Sajith Premadasa as the candidate and organized a rally in badulla where Sajith himself openly expressed his intentions to be the UNP candidate  With the growing support for the deputy leader Sajith Premadasa and party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe refusing to make a move, Speaker of the parliament Karu Jayasuriya released a statement signalling his intention to run for presidency to end the confusion and avoid a rift within the party However Sajith faction showed that they has the popular support among party members and followers by organizing successful rallies in Matara Kurunegala and Matugama. On 26 September 2019, Working committee of United National Party unanimously decided Sajith Premadasa as the UNP presidential candidate. Announcing the official statement, general Secretary of the UNP Akila  Viraj Kariyawasam told that Ranil Wickremesinghe will continue to function as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the UNP. Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). President and leader of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena is eligible to run for a second term. Although he has previously stated, after being sworn in in 2015, that he would only serve the single term, he has since expressed his desire to stay on for a second term. However, with many party seniors choose to support newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna led by former SLFP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, SLFP got weakened and suffered a  heavy loss in 2018 Sri Lankan local elections, thus losing the credibility it had as the main opposition force to the UNP. SLFP pledge to support SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 9 October. Individuals who have publicly expressed interest. Individuals in this section have expressed an interest in running for president, or have strong support from others, within the last six months. National People's Power (NPP). The National People's Power Movement announced Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka as the candidate in a massive rally on 18 August in the Galle Face. Candidates. Record 35 candidates have  submitted their nominations on 7 October to the election commission Results. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Aftermath. Resignations. Minister Mangala Samaraweera informed President Maithripala Sirisena via a letter, that he will step down as Minister of Finance with immediate effect. The letter addressed to the President by Minister Samaraweera stated his opinion that the 2019 election was the most peaceful and fair election held in the recent past. In a tweet, Minister Harin Fernando said, respecting the people's mandate, he will step down as Minister of Sports, Telecommunications and Foreign Employment. He added, he will also be resigning from his positions  at the United National Party. He also thanked everyone who supported him during his tenure and hoped that the good work done will be continued. Non-Cabinet Minister Ajith P. Perera via twitter said, while respecting the mandate of the people of Sri Lanka, he has decided to resign from his position as the Minister of Digital Infrastructure and IT with immediate effect. Tagging Sajith Premadasa he added, this was a well-fought battle and the country needs Sajith Premadasa's leadership at this critical time. State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene via Twitter congratulated Gotabaya Rajapakse for his victory in the  election and said he will step down as State Minister of Defence. He added ”I hope we will be able to build a nation free of division that unites all communities to take this country forward”. Minister Kabir Hashim decided after the results were announced to resign as the Chairman of the United National Party and as the Minister of Highways, Road Development and Petroleum Resources Development. Issuing a statement, Minister Malik Samarawickrama said he will step down as Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade. Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, Patali Champika Ranawaka, resigned from his ministerial portfolio . In a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he stated that he took this decision with respect to the people's mandate.