Mahinda may have a long wait for the showdown 

April 2, 2016, 8:12 pm

The Joint Opposition launched a signature campaign last week demanding that the local government election which had been postponed Since March 2015 be held. With this we saw the government explaining that they can’t hold the LG election just yet until the delimitation of the wards has been completed. The Chairman of the Elections Commission also came on TV to explain that their hands are tied because the delimitation of the wards was not complete. The Minister of Local Government Faizer Mustapha came on TV to assure the public that the delimitation will be over by August and the Elections Commissioner said that they need two and a half months to hold the election after the delimitation is complete. If the government sticks to these timeframes, we may have the LG elections at the end of this year or early next year. In any event this is the first time since 1975 that the government has been dodging an election though games of staggering Provincial Council elections instead of having them all on the same day have been played.

Nearly three decades ago, in 1987 when the present Pradeshiya Sabha system was first introduced, the boot was on the other foot. The UNP government of the day wanted to hold the local government election but the opposition parties including the SLFP, SLMP, MEP, CP, and NSSP wanted to boycott the LG elections held that year on the grounds that their participation in the local government election would give the government an opportunity to legitimize their rule in the context where the UNP government had extended the life of the 1977 parliament through a referendum. The LSSP alone wanted to contest that election on the grounds that this was a good opportunity to organize opposition to the UNP government. As this controversy raged among the opposition parties, this writer interviewed Vijaya Kumaratunga, K.P.Silva, Colvin R. de Silva and Vasudeva Nanayakkara on the positions they had taken on the 1987 LG election.

 Ultimately that LG election of 1987 was never held as it was overtaken by the events relating to the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of July that year. There is a very great likelihood that the present LG elections may also be overtaken by events that are slowly but surely coming to a head in the political and economic fronts. As in the case of the 1987 LG election, there is a looming trade related pact with India which is causing unease throughout the country. The government’s decision not to heed the calls being made by the professional and business groups indicates that things are heading towards a confrontation. The Indo-Lanka Peace Accord imposed certain political requirements on the Sri Lankan state, but it did not endanger the personal interests and the very livelihoods of the Sri Lankan people. But as is being argued by some professional groups, the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement does, and a mighty confrontation is gathering momentum. Just last week, the Prime Minister was reiterating his defiance saying that he was not prepared to talk to a ‘Brahminical caste’ who think the government should be talking to them and that he would present the draft of the ETCA with India to parliament. However professional groups see this as a way of using the votes of captive legislators to pass ETCA against resistance by professional and business groups.

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