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. 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
ElectionMemberPartyTerm 1947C. Vanniasingam All Ceylon Tamil Congress 1947-1952 1952Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi 1952-1956 1956 1956-1960 1960 (March)M. Balasundaram 1960-1960 1960 (July) 1960-1965 1965S. 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:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% C. VanniasingamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant9,61958.90% S. RasaratnamUnited National PartyHand5,26632.24% C. RagunathanIndependentCart Wheel1,4478.86%Valid Votes16,332100.00%Rejected Votes276Total Polled16,608Registered Electors32,999Turnout50.33%
1952 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 2nd parliamentary election held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% C. VanniasingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiAlso known as the Federal PartyKey9,41044.89% C. ArulampalamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressElephant9,20043.88% R. R. DharmaratnamStar2,35411.23%Valid Votes20,964100.00%Rejected Votes283Total Polled21,247Registered Electors32,903Turnout64.57%
1956 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 3rd parliamentary election held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% C. VanniasingamIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,80453.83% C. ArulampalamUmbrella10,98346.17%Valid Votes23,787100.00%Rejected Votes304Total Polled24,091Registered Electors34,465Turnout69.90%
C. Vanniasingam died on 17 September 1959.
1960 (March) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 4th parliamentary election held on 19 March 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% M. BalasundaramIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse10,27948.63% T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle4,93623.35% S. K. NallathambySun3,49416.53% K. V. S. ShanmuganathanLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey1,7778.41% S. P. NadarajahCommunist PartyStar4582.17% S. SivasubramaniamCockerel1920.91%Valid Votes21,136100.00%Rejected Votes351Total Polled21,487Registered Electors27,858Turnout77.13%
1960 (July) Parliamentary General Election Results of the 5th parliamentary election held on 20 July 1960:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% M. BalasundaramIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,08867.64% T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle5,78232.36%Valid Votes17,870100.00%Rejected Votes188Total Polled18,058Registered Electors27,858Turnout64.82%
1965 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 6th parliamentary election held on 22 March 1965:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% S. KathiravelupillaiIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse12,33951.93% T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle8,23034.64% M. ThurairajahLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey2,62511.05% M. BalasundaramUmbrella5682.39%Valid Votes23,762100.00%Rejected Votes361Total Polled24,123Registered Electors33,091Turnout72.90%
1970 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 7th parliamentary election held on 27 May 1970:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% S. KathiravelupillaiIllankai Tamil Arasu KachchiHouse16,42855.85% T. GunaratnamAll Ceylon Tamil CongressBicycle11,28838.38% M. S. KanagasundaramPair of Scales9833.34% M. ThurairajahSri Lanka Freedom PartyHand7132.42%Valid Votes29,412100.00%Rejected Votes189Total Polled29,601Registered Electors37,464Turnout79.01%
1977 Parliamentary General Election Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977:
CandidatePartySymbolVotes% S. KathiravelupillaiTamil United Liberation FrontSun25,84077.20% V. NadarajahLanka Sama Samaja PartyKey3,48710.42% S. JeganathanUnited National PartyElephant2,6998.06% V. T. JeyadevanIndependentShip1,4444.31%Valid Votes33,470100.00%Rejected Votes149Total Polled33,619Registered Electors41,824Turnout80.38%
S. Kathiravelupillai died on 31 March 1981. His replacement M. Alalasundaram was sworn in on 23 July 1981.
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.
M. Alalasundaram was murdered on 2 September 1985.
References & footnotes