Mullaitivu Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between July 1977 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Mullaitivu in Mullaitivu 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] Mullaitivu electoral district was replaced by the Vanni multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Mullaitivu continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.
Key
Results of the 8th parliamentary election held on 21 July 1977 for the district:[2]
| align=left colspan=2 width="180" | Candidate! | align=left width="180" | Party! | align=left width="120" | Symbol! | align=left width="60" | Votes! | align=left width="60" | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor= | X. M. Sellathambu | Tamil United Liberation Front | Sun | 10,261 | 52.36% | ||||
| P. Chandrasekar | Independent | Pair of Scales | 7,632 | 38.95% | |||||
| R. Vickkinarasa | Ladder | 977 | 4.99% | ||||||
| V. Santhirasenan | Bell | 726 | 3.70% | ||||||
| align=left colspan=4 | Valid Votes | 19,596 | 100.00% | ||||||
| align=left colspan=4 | Rejected Votes | 76 | |||||||
| align=left colspan=4 | Total Polled | 19,672 | |||||||
| align=left colspan=4 | Registered Electors | 24,698 | |||||||
| align=left colspan=4 | Turnout | 79.65% |
X. M. Sellathambu 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, Sellathambu forfeited his seat in Parliament on 21 October 1983.[3]