Sri Lanka now has a multi-party system, dominated by two political groups. In the general elections held between 1952 and 1977, a two-party system emerged in which the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) alternately secured majorities and formed governments. However, one major failure of the two-party system was the unwillingness or inability of the UNP and the SLFP to recruit substantial support among Tamils. As a result, this minority was largely excluded from party politics.
On the basis of ethnicity, three types of parties could be defined in the late 1980s: Sinhalese-backed parties including the UNP, the SLFP, Marxist parties, such as the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, and the numerically insignificant splinter groups; a largely inoperative Tamil party system composed of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF); and other minority-oriented parties, such as the Ceylon Workers’ Party, which enjoyed the support of the Indian Tamils, and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.
The situation was complicated by the fact that extremist groups, such as the Sinhalese-based People’s Liberation Front (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna–JVP) in southern Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers based in the Northern and Eastern provinces, challenged the legal parties for popular support. By the late 1980s, both the intransigence of the Jayewardene government and the use of intimidation tactics by extremists in Jaffna District and parts of Eastern Province dramatically reduced popular backing among Tamils for the relatively moderate TULF.
Sinhalese Parties
- The United National Party (UNP)
The UNP was established in 1946 by prominent nationalist leaders such as Don Stephen Senanayake, who became the country’s first prime minister, and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who broke with Senanayake in 1951, establishing the SLFP. The UNP, originally a collection of disparate and jealous factions, was organized to compete in the first general elections in 1947 against leftist parties on the platform of communal harmony,
- The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)
In 1951 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike led his faction, the Sinhala Maha Sabha, out of the ruling UNP and established the SLFP. Bandaranaike had organized the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1937 in order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests.
- The Marxist Parties
In the late 1980s, Sri Lanka had two long-established Marxist parties. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) was founded in 1935 and remained in the late 1980s one of the very few MarxistLeninist parties in the world to associate itself with the revolutionary doctrines of Leon Trotsky.
- The People’s United Front
The People’s United Front (Mahajana Eksath Peramuna–MEP) was a small party founded by veteran leftist Dinesh P. R. Gunawardene that since the early 1950s has attracted Sinhalese support with appeals to militant Buddhist and Sinhala chauvinist sentiments.
- Tamil Parties
Tamil United Liberation Front
On May 4, 1972 several Tamil political groups, including the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, formed the Tamil United Front (TUF). The Federal Party joined the TUF in 1976. The TUF changed its name to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and adopted a demand for an independent state to be known as the “secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam”.
On May 4, 1972 several Tamil political groups, including the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, formed the Tamil United Front (TUF). The Federal Party joined the TUF in 1976. The TUF changed its name to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and adopted a demand for an independent state to be known as the “secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam”.
Tamil National AllianceFormed in 2001, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is a political alliance of Tamil nationalist parties. A split occurred in 2004 when the TNA supported negociations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrilla, and the TULF left the alliance. The TNA currently consists of four parties: Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization.
By the end of 2011 there were 67 registered political parties in Sri Lanka, but for many years at least 30 of them had not engaged in active politics. the Elections Department therefore, decided on 23 January 2012 to suspend the registration of 30 political parties, which had failed to submit relevant documents such as their statements of accounts and policy statements for several years.
Some small parties acted as proxies for the major parties in the run-up to the elections. The major parties usually nominated their members under the banner of small parties to increase the number of counting agents and polling booth representatives. They also used the small parties to get more and more air time allocated to them in the electronic media during election times. In the 2010 presidential election there were initially 13 candidates, but most of them eventually withdrew their candidacy before the election after pledging their support to the main candidates.
Major political parties in 2015 Elections
- United National Party (UNP)
- United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA)
- The Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
- the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)
- the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP)
As of July 2015, there are 64 recognized political parties with the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.
Source
http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/69.htm
http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/ge%202015/others/1.PARTY%20LIST%20ENGLISH.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_United_Liberation_Front
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sri-lanka/political-parties.htm
Resources :
PDF : List of Recognized Political Parties (English) PDF : List of Recognized Political Parties (Tamil) PDF : List of Recognized Political Parties (Singhala)