Summary of Election Results
| Candidate | | Votes | % |
| Ranasinghe Premadasa (UNP) |  | 2,569,199 | 50.43 |
| Sirimavo Bandaranaike (SLFP) |  | 2,289,860 | 44.95 |
| Abeygunasekara Osvin (SLMP) |  | 235,719 | 4.63 |
| Total Polled | 5,186,223 | |
| Rejected | 91,445 | |
| Total Valid | 5,094,778 | |
| Total Registered | 5,088,788 | |
The 1988 Sri Lankan presidential election saw the United National Party retain the presidency.
During the 1988 election, Sri Lanka was in chaos. In the north and east, soldiers of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force battled Tamil Tiger rebels. In the south, government death squads engaged in deadly violence with equally brutal militants of the Sinhala-nationalist JVP. Effective campaigning by the democratic opposition was barely possible.
Aided by its control of the state-owned media, the UNP candidate, Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa, won a narrow but firm victory.
source - wikipedia