Smaller parties chALLENGE 20a IN COURT

Smaller parties chALLENGE 20a IN COURT

By NiranjalaAriyawansha-2015-05-10

Fourteen smaller political parties have taken a unanimous decision to go to Courts against the government if they attempt to adopt the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which includes electoral reforms, as an Bmergency Bill.

Ceylon Today learns that under the present circumstances the government will not be able to get the 20th Amendment to the Constitution passed in Parliament.

Making a statement to Ceylon Today, Leader of the Democratic People's Front, Mano Ganesan said although smaller political parties accept that the electoral system should be amended, if the new electoral system proposed in the amendment is passed as an Emergency Bill, it would cause much harm to the smaller political parties.

He further said that he would force the government to withdraw immediately the 20th Amendment to the Constitution which is due to be tabled in Parliament on 20 May, under these circumstances.
"I have got to know that this amendment will be submitted to the Cabinet on the 13th and tabled in Parliament on the 20th. If that is done, even though we are unwilling, we will go to Court," he stressed.

Under these circumstances, the smaller political parties have decided to meet President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and representatives of the United People's Freedom Alliance next week to discuss these issues.
Fourteen smaller political parties have arrived at this decision at a discussion held at Waters Edge in Battaramulla on 8 May. They have agreed upon three issues at this meeting.

The three proposals are that the forthcoming general election should be held according to the existing electoral system and that when the electoral system is amended, time should be granted to the voters to gain knowledge of it and the speculations that the smaller political parties are attempting to sabotage the electoral reforms should be defeated.

Explaining further, Ganesan said, "There is no justified reason to bring electoral reforms as an Emergency Bill. According to the electoral system that exists now, smaller political parties contest elections at district level and not at electorate level. If an election is held under the amendments scheduled to be submitted, according to the electorate system every seat will be won either by the United National Party or the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. That will cause great harm to the smaller political parties. Therefore, the forthcoming election should definitely be held according to the existing system."
He added that in an election the most important group is the voters and it is essential that they require time to become aware of a new system when a new electoral system is being introduced.

"Even with the present system, given the number of rejected votes in each election, it is possible to see that certain voters who have so much experience in elections in Sri Lanka still do not have proper knowledge regarding elections. Therefore, even if it is accepted, the new election reforms should be subject to further discussion.
As a result, if democracy is to be guaranteed, we would like to request the government to listen to our opinions as well," he stated.
The minor parties, the JVP, SLMC, DPF, EPDP, CWC, UPF, NUW, LSSP, PD, ACMC, NSSP, USP and TULF attended the discussion held at Waters Edge. However, Ganesan said the Jathika Hela Urumaya did not participate in the discussion.