SUMMARY

UNP (United National Party) is a mainstream, centre-right, mainly Sinhalese, political party in Sri Lanka. Formed in September 1946, by Don Stephen Senanayake, a former minister of Agriculture in British Ceylon, with the stated goal of independence from the United Kingdom, UNP became a very important actor on the political stage of Ceylon (and later Sri Lanka). Between independence in 1947 and until 2010, UNP formed 10 cabinets, totaling 37 years when it was in control of the government. Multiple important changes that influenced the course of Sri Lankan history, such as the 1956 decision to impose Sinhalese as the only language of Ceylon/Sri Lanka or the 1978 decision to transform Sri Lanka’s political system from a parliamentary regime to a presidential one were taken either by UNP or at least with the approval of UNP. Currently, UNP is one of the two main Sinhalese parties in Sri Lankan parliament, and, with 60 seats won in the 2010 elections, it is also the second biggest (and the main opposition) party.

Electoral violence has been a mainstay of the Sri Lankan electoral process, being present in some form or another at nearly every Sri Lankan election. Such violence manifests itself, usually, in a relatively unorganized fashion, mainly through rallies that get out of control, degenerating into fighting, or local-level violence that erupts in an uncontrolled fashion. Further, actions by the Thamil Eelam Viduthalai Puligal: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), usually with intent to sabotage and derail the elections (through means such as suicide bombings, assassinations of key political figures and various other forms of attack), increase the level of violence. This happens as supporters of traditional political parties (such as PA or UNP) do not rally only against LTTEs actions, but also against their traditional political rivals.

UNP supporters have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.