Ratnasiri Wickremanayake People's Alliance Ranil Wickremesinghe United National Front

The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition.

[2] The ruling People's Alliance lost the election, which saw the United National Front win the legislative power.

Having the President and Prime Minister belong to two different parties proved to be unstable, and Parliament was dissolved again in 2004, leading to yet another general election.