In an attempt to end the
Sri Lankan Civil War the
Indo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987. One of the requirements of the accord was that the
Sri Lankan government to
devolve powers to the provinces. Accordingly, on 14 November 1987 the
Sri Lankan Parliament passed the
13th Amendment to the
1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987. On 3 February 1988 nine provincial councils were created by order. The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in
North Central,
North Western,
Sabaragamuwa, and
Uva provinces. On 2 June 1988 elections were held for provincial councils for
Central,
Southern and
Western provinces. The
United National Party (UNP), which was in power nationally, won control of all seven provincial councils. The Indo-Lanka Accord also required the merger of the
Eastern and
Northern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the
Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his discretion. President
Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province. The 2nd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1993 in seven provinces. The UNP retained control of six provincial councils but lost control of the largest provincial council, Western, to the opposition
People's Alliance. A special election was held in Southern Province in 1994 after some UNP provincial councillors defected to the opposition. The PA won the election and took control of the Southern Provincial Council. The
3rd Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 1999 in seven provinces. The PA, which was now in power nationally, managed to win the majority of seats in two provinces (North Central and North Western). It was also able to form a majority administration in the other five provinces with the support of smaller parties such as the
Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) . The UNP regained control of the Central Provincial Council in 2002 after the CWC councillors crossed over to the opposition. The
4th Sri Lankan provincial council election was held in 2004 in seven provinces. The
United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the successor to the PA, won all seven provinces. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, the
JVP filed three separate
petitions with the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East.
Southern Provincial Council and
Western Provincial Council were dissolved by their
governors on 12 January 2014. ==Results==