A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Overcome danger of open ended postponement of elections
By Jehan Perera-July 31, 2017, 8:33 pm
The
postponement of provincial elections was not expected. The constitution
states that provincial elections must be held on schedule. But, the
postponement was not surprising. Local government elections have been
postponed for over two years. Every few weeks there have been
declarations by government leaders that the conduct of local government
elections is imminent. A fortnight ago, Local Government and Provincial
Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha said that the government and other
party leaders have reached consensus to change the electoral system for
local government elections to one in which the ratio between members
elected under the first-past-the-post system and the proportional
representation system would be 60:40 from the earlier proposed ratio of
70:30.
Minister Mustapha also said the government would be in a position to
hold local government polls within this year after passing much delayed
Amendments to the local government electoral system. However, instead of
acting on its words in regard to the conduct of the local government
elections, the government has now decided to postpone the provincial
council elections which were due to be held this year. Elections were to
have been held for the North-Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern
Provincial Councils this year when their terms end on October 1. The
Cabinet approved a proposal seeking to conduct the elections to all nine
provincial councils on the same day, under a new system which will
change the present proportional system to include a mix of the
first-past-the-post system and the proportional representation system.
Under the latter provision, the provincial council election law would be
amended to make way for the new system according to which 60 per cent
of members would be elected on the first-past-the-post system and 40 per
cent on the proportional representation systems. The problem in the
electoral reform process has been that getting agreement between all
parties on the proposed reforms has been most difficult. The UNP and
SLFP, which are the biggest parties, prefer having more emphasis on the
first-past-the-post system where the candidate who gets the largest
number of votes in a particular electorate is the one who gets elected.
But the smaller parties prefer the emphasis to be on the proportional
system as it guarantees them some representation even when they are
unable to obtain a majority of votes in even one electorate.
THREE REASONS
The government has given three reasons, and not just one, for the
postponement of the provincial council elections. Each of these reasons
has its own validity. The first is the need to amend the provincial
council law to make it follow the same basis as the revision in the
local government law with regard to the electoral system. The second
reason for the postponement of the provincial elections is to facilitate
the incorporation of a women’s quota into the provincial council system
as already introduced into the local government system. The government
proposal is to amend the provincial council law to make it binding on
all political parties and independent groups to field at least 30 per
cent female candidates in provincial council elections. This is on the
basis that the government has taken a policy decision to increase the
female representation in all political decision-making bodies.
Last year amended the local government law to include 25 percent quota
for women at the Local Government elections through a reserved list for
women who will be elected outside of the open list of candidates.
However, the government also stated that no similar quota will be
provided at the parliamentary level and that the expectation appeared to
be that increased women’s representation in higher levels of governance
will take place through the upward mobility of women from the local
level. The representation of women in local government is only about 2
percent, in provincial councils it is only about 4 percent and in
parliament it is about 6 percent. While there is a recognition in Sri
Lanka today that a peaceful and just society requires multi ethnic and
multi religious representation in decision making, there is still
inadequate recognition that men cannot, and should not, seek to
represent the interests of the entirety of society, when more than half
of the population of Sri Lanka are women. Therefore bringing in a quota
for women at the provincial council level is a positive development.
The third reason that has been given for the need to amend the
provincial council law is that holding all the provincial elections on a
single day would save the government a lot of money. Conducting
provincial elections on different dates, as and when the terms of the
provincial councils ends, means that the election machinery has to be
utilized on a large number of occasions. As there are nine provincial
councils, it is conceivable that each five years would see nine separate
elections that are held at different times. This is close to what the
previous government did. The previous government headed by former
President Mahinda Rajapaksa held provincial council elections and other
elections whenever they wished to show the people and the international
community that they continued to retain the people’s mandate.
DEADLINE NEEDED
During the period of the Rajapaksa government, whenever they were on the
back foot due to international pressure regarding human rights
violations, the government held an election. They concentrated their
forces, both in terms of strong-arm and financial resources, to ensure
that they would score a thumping victory and adduce this as evidence
that they enjoyed the wholehearted support of the local population.
Holding all provincial elections on a single day would put an end to
this practice and to the massive expenses associated with it. Such a
reform would also reduce the pressure on government leaders to be on
constant election campaign mode, and therefore make it more possible for
them to give their time and effort to engage in problem solving as
befits their role in the polity, rather than in electioneering.
However, these justifications for amending the provincial council law
and postponing elections needs to be balanced against the importance of
holding regular elections which are the lifeblood of democracy. Regular
and free and fair elections facilitate the rejuvenation of the polity
which could otherwise become moribund and corrupt. It was the electoral
process that finally undid the former Rajapaksa government that acted as
if the victory in the war against the LTTE had given them the right to
rule as sovereigns with impunity. It can only be in extreme
circumstances that elections are postponed. Such extreme circumstances
do not currently prevail in Sri Lanka. The electoral process ought to
recommence rather than being put on indefinite hold. The postponement of
elections needs to be subjected to a strict deadline rather than being
permitted to drag on indefinitely as the local government elections have
been.
There is one extenuating circumstance for the government. The
constitutional reform process has neared the stage of a draft new
constitution. The constitutional reform process should be permitted to
reach fruition. The formation of a government of national unity between
the UNP and SLFP offers the real possibility of constitutional change
that can overcome the failures of the past. Holding local or provincial
elections at this time will pit the political parties in the government
against one another, which is the unstated reason to postpone the
elections until the constitutional reform takes place. However, this
postponement should be subjected to a strict and accountable deadline.
An open ended delay on the grounds of inability to reach consensus on
the reform of election laws and the constitution would be detrimental to
democracy. The government will be seen to be a meandering one, which is
not engaging in constructive actions. It has to show movement.
Constitutional reform is a necessity. The process has been going on for
two years. The government needs to see constitutional reform to its end.