 He ran again at the 3rd parliamentary election, held in April 1956, this time as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate.He polled 11,005 votes (53% of the total vote), 1,239 votes ahead of the United National Party candidate, Edward Lionel Senanayake and was duly elected.On 20 April 1956 Tennakoon was elected as the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, a position he retained until 16 September 1958, when he was replaced by the member for Gampola, Richard Stanley Pelpola.