Prime MinisterSirimavo Bandaranaike had become extraordinarily unpopular. Her economic policies had led to industrial growth and self-reliance, but were insufficient to overcome unemployment. Constitutionally, she had taken advantage of the 1972 constitution to delay the election until 1977, instead of 1975 as would have been the case under the old Soulbury constitution. The government's strong Sinhalanationalist stance had led to unrest in the Tamil north; in response, an island-wide state of emergency was imposed, causing hardship to many people. The UF coalition Bandaranaike had built for the 1970 elections had disintegrated.
By contrast, the United National Party had made a surprising comeback since its 1970 humiliation. Under the leadership of J.R. Jayewardene it had assiduously built up its ground organization. The UNP promised to solve the ethnic problem with a devolution package. Economically, it proposed opening up the Sri Lankan economy again. Constitutionally, the UNP called for replacing the Westminster-based political system with one modelled along French lines. Most importantly, it promised a free extra ration of eight pounds of cereal (the so-called eta ata), on top of the existing ration of two kilograms of rice.
More portentous was the status of the Tamil parties. The old federalist Tamil parties had merged to form the Tamil United Liberation Front, led by Appapillai Amirthalingam, which had gone beyond regional autonomy to openly call for independence of the Tamil-speaking regions of the country.
Results
The UNP won the largest landslide in Sri Lankan history, taking over half the vote and 140 of the 168 seats, five-sixths of the legislature. The size of the landslide was magnified by the first-past-the-post system. The SLFP was decimated, falling from 91 seats to only eight–easily the worst defeat that a Sri Lankan governing party has ever suffered, and one of the worst ever suffered by a governing party in a Westminster system.
For the first time, a Tamil party won the second-highest number of seats in Parliament and became the Official Opposition.
Abeyratne Pilapitiya of the UNP was elected MP for Kalawana, but was subsequently unseated in an election petition. Sarath Muttetuwegama of the Communist Party was returned to Parliament in the ensuing by-election.
The 1977 election was the only one ever held under the 1972 constitution.[1] A year later, the UNP-dominated legislature amended the constitution to replace the parliamentary system with a presidential system. Under the provisions of the new document, Prime Minister Jayewardene became president on 4 February 1978.
^1977 Parliamentary Elections Results[permanent dead link]. Official Website, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
^1977 Parliamentary Elections Results[permanent dead link]. Official Website, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
(PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17.
"1977 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com.
"Table 38 Parliament Election (1977)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009.
Rajasingham, K. T. (26 January 2002). . Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Asia Times. Archived from the original on 13 February 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Rajasingham, K. T. (2 February 2002). . Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Asia Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
March 06, 2023
1977, lankan, parliamentary, election, parliamentary, elections, were, held, lanka, july, 1977, result, landslide, victory, united, national, party, which, seats, national, state, assembly, 1970, july, 1977, 1989, elected, members, seats, national, state, asse. Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 July 1977 The result was a landslide victory for the United National Party which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election 1970 21 July 1977 1989 elected members All 168 seats in the National State Assembly 85 seats were needed for a majority First party Second party Third party Leader Junius Richard Jayewardene A Amirthalingam Sirimavo BandaranaikeParty UNP TULF SLFPLeader since 1973 1977 1960Leader s seat Colombo West Kankesanthurai AttanagallaLast election 37 91 17 seats 36 86 91 seatsSeats won 140 18 8Seat change 123 New 83Popular vote 3 179 221 421 488 1 855 331Percentage 50 92 6 75 29 72 Winners of polling divisions UNP in green TULF in yellow and SLFP in blue Prime Minister before electionSirimavo BandaranaikeSLFP Prime Minister designate Junius Richard JayewardeneUNP Contents 1 Background 2 Results 3 Electorate Results 3 1 Western Province 3 1 1 Colombo District 3 1 2 Gampaha District 3 1 3 Kalutara District 3 2 Central Province 3 2 1 Matale District 3 2 2 Kandy District 3 2 3 Nuwaraeliya District 3 3 Southern Province 3 3 1 Galle District 3 3 2 Matara District 3 3 3 Hambantota District 3 4 Northern Province 3 4 1 Jaffna District 3 4 2 Vanni District 3 5 Eastern Province 3 5 1 Trincomalee District 3 5 2 Batticalao District 3 5 3 Ampara District 3 6 North Western Province 3 6 1 Puttalam District 3 6 2 Kurunegala District 3 7 North Central Province 3 7 1 Anuradapura District 3 7 2 Polonnaruwa District 3 8 Uva Province 3 8 1 Badulla District 3 8 2 Monaragala District 3 9 Sabaragamuwa Province 3 9 1 Kegalle District 3 9 2 Ratnapura District 4 Notes 5 ReferencesBackground EditPrime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had become extraordinarily unpopular Her economic policies had led to industrial growth and self reliance but were insufficient to overcome unemployment Constitutionally she had taken advantage of the 1972 constitution to delay the election until 1977 instead of 1975 as would have been the case under the old Soulbury constitution The government s strong Sinhala nationalist stance had led to unrest in the Tamil north in response an island wide state of emergency was imposed causing hardship to many people The UF coalition Bandaranaike had built for the 1970 elections had disintegrated By contrast the United National Party had made a surprising comeback since its 1970 humiliation Under the leadership of J R Jayewardene it had assiduously built up its ground organization The UNP promised to solve the ethnic problem with a devolution package Economically it proposed opening up the Sri Lankan economy again Constitutionally the UNP called for replacing the Westminster based political system with one modelled along French lines Most importantly it promised a free extra ration of eight pounds of cereal the so called eta ata on top of the existing ration of two kilograms of rice More portentous was the status of the Tamil parties The old federalist Tamil parties had merged to form the Tamil United Liberation Front led by Appapillai Amirthalingam which had gone beyond regional autonomy to openly call for independence of the Tamil speaking regions of the country Results EditThe UNP won the largest landslide in Sri Lankan history taking over half the vote and 140 of the 168 seats five sixths of the legislature The size of the landslide was magnified by the first past the post system The SLFP was decimated falling from 91 seats to only eight easily the worst defeat that a Sri Lankan governing party has ever suffered and one of the worst ever suffered by a governing party in a Westminster system For the first time a Tamil party won the second highest number of seats in Parliament and became the Official Opposition Abeyratne Pilapitiya of the UNP was elected MP for Kalawana but was subsequently unseated in an election petition Sarath Muttetuwegama of the Communist Party was returned to Parliament in the ensuing by election The 1977 election was the only one ever held under the 1972 constitution 1 A year later the UNP dominated legislature amended the constitution to replace the parliamentary system with a presidential system Under the provisions of the new document Prime Minister Jayewardene became president on 4 February 1978 PartyVotes SeatsUnited National Party3 179 22150 92140Sri Lanka Freedom Party1 855 33129 728Tamil United Liberation Front421 4886 7518Lanka Sama Samaja Party225 3173 610Communist Party of Sri Lanka123 8561 980Ceylon Workers Congress62 7071 001Mahajana Eksath Peramuna22 6390 360Independents353 0145 651Total6 243 573100 00168Registered voters turnout6 667 589 Source Kusaka Research InstituteElectorate Results EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Western Province Edit Colombo District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolColombo North M Vincent Perera ElephantColombo Central R Premadasa ElephantColombo Central M Jabir A Cader EyeColombo Central M Haleem Ishak HandBorella M H Mohomed ElephantColombo East A Edmund Samarawickrema ElephantColombo West J R Jayewardene ElephantDehiwala S de S Jayasinghe ElephantRatmalana Lalith Athulathmudali ElephantKolonnawa Weerasinghe Mallimarachchi ElephantKotte Anandatissa de Alwis ElephantKaduwela M D H Jayawardana ElephantAwissawella M D Premarathna EephantHomagama Gamini Jayasuriya ElephantMaharagama Premaratne Gunasekera ElephantKesbewa Dharmasena Attygalle ElephantMoratuwa Tyronne Fernando ElephantGampaha District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolWattala D Shelton Jayasinghe ElephantNegambo N Denzil Fernando ElephantKatana Wijayapala Mendis ElephantDivulapitiya Ariyaratne Jayatillake ElephantMirigama Mahendra Wijeratne ElephantMinuwangoda Bennet Gunasekera ElephantAttanagalla Sirimavo Bandaranaike HandGampaha S D Bandaranayake HandJa ela Joseph Michael Perera ElephantMahara Tudor Gunasekara ElephantDompe Sarathchandra Rajakaruna ElephantBiyagama Ranil Wickremasinghe ElephantKelaniya Kaluwadewage Cyril Mathew ElephantKalutara District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolPanadura Neville Fernando ElephantBandaragama Senaraja Samaranayake ElephantHorana Indradasa Hettiarachchi ElephantBulathsinhala O S Perera ElephantMathugama Reginold V Wijegooneratne ElephantKalutara V L Wijemanne ElephantBeruwala Abdul Bakeer Markar ElephantAgalawatta Merill Kariyawasam ElephantCentral Province Edit Matale District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolDambulla K W R M Ekananayake ElephantLaggala J G Wijeratne Banda ElephantMatale Alick Aluvihare ElephantRattota P B Kaviratne ElephantKandy District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolGalagedara W M G T Banda ElephantHarispattuwa Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed ElephantHarispattuwa R Premachandra Wijesiri UmbrellaPathadumbara T B Werapitiya ElephantUdadumbara R B Attanayake ElephantTeldeniya Gamini Rajapakse ElephantKundasale D M Chandrapala ElephantHewaheta Anura Daniel ElephantSenkadagala Shelton Ranaraja ElephantMahanuwara E L Senanayake ElephantYatinuwara Sunil Subasiri Abeysundara ElephantUdunuwara D B Wijetunga ElephantGampola W P B Dissanayake ElephantNuwaraeliya District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolNavalapitiya Chandradra Karunaratne ElephantNuwaraeliya Maskeliya Gamini Dissanayake ElephantNuwaraeliya Maskeliya Anura Bandaranaike HandNuwaraeliya Maskeliya S Thondaman CockereiKothmale Ananda Dassanayake HandHanguranketha George Abeygoonasekera ElephantWalapane Renuka Herath Mrs ElephantSouthern Province Edit Galle District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolBalapitiya Norman Waidyaratna ElephantAmbalangoda Raitor Thilakasekara ElephantKarandeniya Bandulahewa Senadheera ElephantBentara Elpitiya Rupasena Karunatilake ElephantHiniduma M S Amarasiri ElephantBaddegama E D Wickrematilaka ElephantRathgma Edwin Thilakaratne ElephantGalle Albert de Silva ElephantAkmeemana Sumanadasa Abeywickrama ElephantHabaraduwa P Sumathiratne ElephantMatara District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolDeniyaya Keerthisena Abeywickrama ElephantHakmana Harshanath Wanigasekara ElephantAkuressa Dayananda Wickremasinghe ElephantKamburupitiya D E Malawaraarachchi ElephantDevinuwara Ronnie de Mel ElephantMatara S K Piyadasa ElephantWeligama Montague Jayawickrema ElephantHambantota District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolMulkirigala T D Fransisku ElephantBeliatta Ranjith Atapattu ElephantTangalle Jinadasa Weerasinghe ElephantTissamaharama P M B Cyril ElephantNorthern Province Edit Jaffna District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolKayts K P Ratnam SunWaddukkodai T Thirunavukarasu SunKankesanthurai A Amirthalingam SunManipay V Dharmalingam SunKopai S Kathiravelupillai SunUdduppidi T Rasalingam SunPoint Pedro K Thurairatnam SunChavakachcheri V N Navaratnam SunNallur M Sivasithamparam SunJaffna V Yogeswaran SunVanni District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolKilinochchi V Anandasangary SunMannar P S Soosaithasan SunMulativu X M Sellathambu SunVavuniya T Sivasithamparam SunEastern Province Edit Trincomalee District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolSeruvila H D L Leelaratne ElephantMutur M E H Maharoof ElephantTrincomalee R Sampathan SunBatticalao District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolKalkudah K W Devanayagam ElephantBatticaloa C Rajadurai amp Farid Meeralebbai Sun amp ElephantPaddiruppu P Ganeshalingam SunAmpara District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolAmpara P Dayaratna ElephantSammanthurai M A Abdul Majeed ElephantKalmunai Abdul Rasak Mansoor ElephantPotuvil M A M Jalaldeen amp C Kanagaratnam Elephant amp SunNorth Western Province Edit Puttalam District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolPuttalam M H M Neina Marikkar ElephantAnamaduwa Saddhatissa Wadigamangawa HandChilaw Harindra Corea ElephantNattandiya Harold Herath ElephantWennappuwa Festus Perera ElephantKurunegala District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolGalgamuwa H M A Lokubanda ElephantNikaweratiya H B Wanninayake ElephantYapahuwa H B Abeyratne ElephantHiriyala S B Herath ElephantWariyapola Amarawathie Piyaseeli Ratnayake Mrs ElephantPanduwasnuwara Kalubanda Ratnayake ElephantBingiriya J L Sirisena ElephantKatugampola Jayawicrema Perera ElephantKuliyapitiya Lionel Jayatillake ElephantDambadeniya Ukkubanda Wijekoon ElephantPolgahawela J A D S R Jayakody ElephantKurunegala Dingiri Banda Welagedera ElephantMawathagama G M Premachandra ElephantDodangaslanda S W Alawatuwala ElephantNorth Central Province Edit Anuradapura District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolMedawachchiya Maithripala Senanayake HandHoroupothana E L B Hurulle ElephantAnuradhapura East W Y Herath ElephantAnuradhapura West K D M C Bandara ElephantKalawewa A M S Adikari ElephantMihintale Dayaratne Walagambahu ElephantKekirawa G D Mahindsoma ElephantPolonnaruwa District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolMinneriya Merril de Silva ElephantMedirigiriya A D B Ekanayake ElephantPolonnaruwa H G P NelsonUva Province Edit Badulla District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolMahiyangana C P J Seneviratne ElephantViyaluwa Weerawanni Samaraweera ElephantPassara W M Karunaratne ElephantBadulla D Vincent Dias ElephantHali ela R M Abeykoon ElephantUva paranagama R M Karunaratne ElephantWelimada Percy Samaraweera ElephantBandarawela R M Apphamy ElephantHaputale W J M Lokubandara ElephantMonaragala District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolBibile R M Dharmadasa Banda ElephantMoneragala R M Punchi Bandara ElephantWellawaya J M Kumaradasa ElephantSabaragamuwa Province Edit Kegalle District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolDedigama Nissanka Parakrama Wijayaratne ElephantGaligamuwa Wimala Kannangara Mrs ElephantKegalle N A Seneviratne ElephantRambukkana Asoka Karunaratne ElephantMawanella C R Beligammana ElephantAranayaka Wasantha Udayaratne ElephantYatiyantota K Vincent Perera ElephantRuwanwella P C Imbulana ElephantDeraniyagala A K D Wanigaratne ElephantRatnapura District Edit Electorate Name of the Elected SymbolEhaliyagoda Mervyn Kularatne ElephantRatnapura G V Punchinilame ElephantPelmadulla Chandrasekera Gankanda ElephantBalangoda M L M Aboosally ElephantRakwana H Kularatne ElephantNivitigala Gamini Athukorale ElephantKalawana Abeyratna Pilapitiya ElephantKolonna Caluwadewage Nanda Mathew ElephantSource 2 Notes EditReferences Edit 1977 Parliamentary Elections Results permanent dead link Official Website Department of Elections Sri Lanka 1977 Parliamentary Elections Results permanent dead link Official Website Department of Elections Sri Lanka Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977 PDF Department of Elections Sri Lanka Archived from the original PDF on 2011 07 17 1977 General Election Results LankaNewspapers com Table 38 Parliament Election 1977 Sri Lanka Statistics 10 February 2009 Rajasingham K T 26 January 2002 Chapter 24 Tamil militancy a manifestation Sri Lanka The Untold Story Asia Times Archived from the original on 13 February 2002 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Rajasingham K T 2 February 2002 Chapter 25 War or peace Sri Lanka The Untold Story Asia Times Archived from the original on 16 April 2002 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election amp oldid 1134233259, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
