1993 Sri Lankan presidential election
indirect election held in Sri Lanka
An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 7 May 1993, following the assassination of president Ranasinghe Premadasa by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Colombo. The president of Sri Lanka was elected by the Parliament of Sri Lanka in a secret ballot to decide who would complete the remainder of Premadasa's term.
Incumbent prime minister and acting president Dingiri Banda Wijetunga was the only contester for the presidency and was unanimously elected, without a vote, as the fourth president of Sri Lanka. He was named as the candidate of the ruling United National Party. Wijetunga was to continue the presidential term of Premadasa until the 1994 Sri Lankan presidential election was held in November 1994.
Procedure
According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office.
Election schedule
According to the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1981, "Where the office of President becomes vacant in terms of paragraph (1) of Article 38 of the Constitution, as provided by Article 40 of the Constitution, Parliament shall elect as President one of its members who is qualified to be elected to the office of President, to hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office." The constitution requires for a successor to be elected within 30 days.
Candidates
Declared
Aftermath
Following his appointment, Wijetunga appointed UNP MP Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister.
The UNP government was defeated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Chandrika Kumaratunga in the August 1994 parliamentary elections, thus Kumaratunga would briefly succeed Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q124937027. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1993, 1994 and 1981.
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