Kopay Electoral District

Kopay Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Kopay in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral system for electing members of Parliament. The existing 160 mainly single-member electoral districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts.[1] Kopay electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Kopay continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

Members of Parliament

Key

  ACTC   ITAK   TULF

Election Member Party Term
1947 C. Vanniasingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952
1952 Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1952-1956
1956 1956-1960
1960 (March) M. Balasundaram 1960-1960
1960 (July) 1960-1965
1965 S. Kathiravelupillai 1965-1970
1970 1970-1977
1977 Tamil United Liberation Front 1977-1989

Elections

1947 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 1st parliamentary election held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947:[2]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  C. Vanniasingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Elephant 9,619 58.90%
  S. Rasaratnam United National Party Hand 5,266 32.24%
C. Ragunathan Independent Cart Wheel 1,447 8.86%
Valid Votes 16,332 100.00%
Rejected Votes 276
Total Polled 16,608
Registered Electors 32,999
Turnout 50.33%

1952 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:[3]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  C. Vanniasingam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] Key 9,410 44.89%
  C. Arulampalam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Elephant 9,200 43.88%
R. R. Dharmaratnam Star 2,354 11.23%
Valid Votes 20,964 100.00%
Rejected Votes 283
Total Polled 21,247
Registered Electors 32,903
Turnout 64.57%

1956 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:[5]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  C. Vanniasingam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 12,804 53.83%
C. Arulampalam Umbrella 10,983 46.17%
Valid Votes 23,787 100.00%
Rejected Votes 304
Total Polled 24,091
Registered Electors 34,465
Turnout 69.90%

C. Vanniasingam died on 17 September 1959.

1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:[6]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  M. Balasundaram Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 10,279 48.63%
  T. Gunaratnam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 4,936 23.35%
S. K. Nallathamby Sun 3,494 16.53%
  K. V. S. Shanmuganathan Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 1,777 8.41%
  S. P. Nadarajah Communist Party Star 458 2.17%
S. Sivasubramaniam Cockerel 192 0.91%
Valid Votes 21,136 100.00%
Rejected Votes 351
Total Polled 21,487
Registered Electors 27,858
Turnout 77.13%

1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:[7]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  M. Balasundaram Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 12,088 67.64%
  T. Gunaratnam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 5,782 32.36%
Valid Votes 17,870 100.00%
Rejected Votes 188
Total Polled 18,058
Registered Electors 27,858
Turnout 64.82%

1965 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:[8]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  S. Kathiravelupillai Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 12,339 51.93%
  T. Gunaratnam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 8,230 34.64%
  M. Thurairajah Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 2,625 11.05%
M. Balasundaram Umbrella 568 2.39%
Valid Votes 23,762 100.00%
Rejected Votes 361
Total Polled 24,123
Registered Electors 33,091
Turnout 72.90%

1970 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:[9]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  S. Kathiravelupillai Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi[4] House 16,428 55.85%
  T. Gunaratnam All Ceylon Tamil Congress Bicycle 11,288 38.38%
M. S. Kanagasundaram Pair of Scales 983 3.34%
  M. Thurairajah Sri Lanka Freedom Party Hand 713 2.42%
Valid Votes 29,412 100.00%
Rejected Votes 189
Total Polled 29,601
Registered Electors 37,464
Turnout 79.01%

1977 Parliamentary General Election

Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:[10]

Candidate Party Symbol Votes %
  S. Kathiravelupillai Tamil United Liberation Front Sun 25,840 77.20%
  V. Nadarajah Lanka Sama Samaja Party Key 3,487 10.42%
  S. Jeganathan United National Party Elephant 2,699 8.06%
V. T. Jeyadevan Independent Ship 1,444 4.31%
Valid Votes 33,470 100.00%
Rejected Votes 149
Total Polled 33,619
Registered Electors 41,824
Turnout 80.38%

S. Kathiravelupillai died on 31 March 1981. His replacement M. Alalasundaram was sworn in on 23 July 1981.[11]

M. Alalasundaram and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs. After three months of absence, Alalasundaram forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 January 1984.[12]

M. Alalasundaram was murdered on 2 September 1985.[13]

References & footnotes

  1. ^ "The Electoral System". Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2010-11-27.
  2. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  3. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Also known as the Federal Party
  5. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  8. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09.
  9. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  10. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
  11. ^ KT Rajasingham (16 February 2002). "Chapter 27 - Horsewhip Amirthalingham". SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY. Asia Times. Archived from the original on 22 June 2002. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  12. ^ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island, Sri Lanka.[dead link‍]
  13. ^ KT Rajasingham. "Chapter 33: India shows its hand". SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY. Asia Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2002. Retrieved 23 March 2010.