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The 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka (1st Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 1977 parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977. The parliament met for the first time on 22 July 1977 and was dissolved on 8 March 1989.

The United National Party won a 5⁄6 majority to form a government under J. R. Jayewardene. Later Jayawardane introduced a new constitution to Sri Lanka and was elected as the 1st Executive President of Sri Lanka.

On 22 December 1982, the 1982 Sri Lankan national referendum was held, giving the people of Sri Lanka the option to extend the life of parliament by 6 years without an election. It was the first and so far only national referendum to be held in Sri Lanka. The referendum was called for by President Jayawardene, who had been elected to a fresh six-year term as president in October 1982. The government extended their term to stay in power in 1983 without an election and stayed in power until 1989.

Results

The UNP won the largest landslide in Sri Lankan history (due to the first-past-the-post 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.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	United National Party	3,179,221	50.92	140
	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1,855,331	29.72	8
	Tamil United Liberation Front	421,488	6.75	18
	Lanka Sama Samaja Party	225,317	3.61	0
	Communist Party of Sri Lanka	123,856	1.98	0
	Ceylon Workers' Congress	62,707	1.00	1
	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	22,639	0.36	0
	Independents	353,014	5.65	1
Total		6,243,573	100.00	168
Registered voters/turnout		6,667,589	–
Source: Kusaka Research Institute

Electorate Results

Western Province

Colombo District

Gampaha District

Kalutara District

Central Province

Matale District

Kandy District

Nuwaraeliya District

Southern Province

Galle District

Matara District

Hambantota District

Northern Province

Jaffna District

Vanni District

Eastern Province

Trincomalee District

Batticalao District

Ampara District

North Western Province

Puttalam District

Kurunegala District

North Central Province

Anuradapura District

Polonnaruwa District

Uva Province

Badulla District

Monaragala District

Sabaragamuwa Province

Kegalla District

Ratnapura District

Source

Notes

References

1. 1977 General Election Results Archived 2015-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
2. General Election Results 1977
3. 1977 General Election Results Archived 2010-03-25 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

• "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
• "1977 General Election Results". LankaNewspapers.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-05.
• "Table 38 Parliament Election (1977)". Sri Lanka Statistics. 10 February 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
• 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

• Parliament of Sri Lanka
• 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
• Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka