By 1960, Ceylon's governing Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) coalition was falling apart.

The Marxist parties that were junior partners of the coalition had broken with the dominant Sri Lanka Freedom Party over the issue of paddy lands.

The SLFP itself had been torn by an internal power struggle since the death of its leader, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the previous year.

Both the United National Party and the SLFP campaigned on a strongly anti-Tamil line, promising to repatriate the estate Tamils to India, and implement the Sinhala Only Act.

[citation needed] Dudley Senanayake and the UNP obtained a plurality of seats, but without a majority could not form a stable government.