Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga of the governing People's Alliance was elected, receiving 62% of the vote and becoming the first female president of Sri Lanka.

President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated in 1993 by the Tamil Tigers and was succeeded by the Prime Minister, Dingiri Banda Wijetunga.

President Wijetunga chose not to run in the 1994 election; therefore the United National Party selected Leader of the Opposition Gamini Dissanayake as their candidate.

His main challenger was Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga of the People's Alliance, whose party had won the parliamentary elections earlier in 1994.

[1] On 24 October 1994, during his presidential campaign, Gamini Dissanayake was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers.