The Sri Lankan presidential election of 1999 was the fourth presidential

President of Sri Lanka

The President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the head of government. The President is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1978 but has grown so powerful there have been calls to restrict or even eliminate its power...

 election

Elections in Sri Lanka

Elections in Sri Lanka gives information on election and election results in Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a six year term by the people...

 of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. Nominations were accepted on 16 November 1999, and the election was held on 21 December 1999 Electoral participation was 73.31%. Incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga

Chandrika Kumaratunga

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga born June 29, 1945) was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005...

 of the governing People's Alliance

People's Alliance (Sri Lanka)

The People's Alliance is a front of political parties in Sri Lanka, formed in 1994.It comprises the following parties:* Sri Lanka Freedom Party* Lanka Sama Samaja Party* Communist Party of Sri Lanka* Sri Lanka Mahajana Party...

 was re-elected for a second term, receiving 51% of all votes cast.

Background

Sri Lankan presidents are elected for six-year terms; with the previous election

Sri Lankan presidential election, 1994

The Sri Lankan presidential election of 1994 was the third presidential election of Sri Lanka. Nominations were accepted on 7 October 1994, and the election was held on 9 November 1994. Electoral participation was 70.47%...

 having taken place in 1994, an election normally would not have been held until 2000. Kumaratunga called the election early.

Kumaratunga campaigned to continue her actions against the Tamil Tigers, while her main opponent Ranil Wickremasinghe

Ranil Wickremasinghe

Ranil Shriyan Wickremesinghe , MP, is a Sri Lankan politician and current Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament. He was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka twice, from May 7, 1993 to August 19, 1994 and from December 9, 2001 to April 6, 2004...

 called for the commencement of direct negotiations with the Tigers.

Three days before the election, Kumaratunga was nearly killed by an Tamil Tiger assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

attempt at her final rally. She lost her right eye, and appeared heavily bandaged on television before the election.