The best compromise would be to do all the necessary electoral reforms within the shortest possible time and to have the elections without delay so that it will be a win-win situation for both people and the government. In a democracy people are entitled to a good electoral system as well as an unhindered opportunity to exercise their right to vote.
By Gamini Abeywardane
The idea
reportedly mooted by the government recently to make it compulsory by law to
have all provincial council elections on the same day, on the face of it, is a
salutary move. Due to whatever reasons, when the provincial councils were set
up by the J R Jayewardene government they did not introduce the same day
election rule for PCs. If it was deliberately done the motive would have been
to keep the option of testing the waters by having these elections one by one
so that it would always be for the advantage of the government in power.
Following
the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution the first provincial council
election was held in April 1988 only in four provinces – Wayamba, Uva, North
Central and Sabaragamuwa, because of the bad security situation that prevailed
at the time. The elections to the other provinces were held subsequently, again
not on the same day but on a staggered basis. Upon the expiry of their term elections to seven provincial councils other than the north and the east were held on the same day in May 1993. That means although the election law did not strictly prescribe the necessity for same day elections, the normal practice applicable to parliamentary elections was followed in this regard as well. The elections in the north and the east were not possible because the amalgamated province had been taken under the central control by that time following the unsuccessful attempt by Vartharajah Perumal to declare independence unilaterally.
Thereafter,
each time when provincial elections were held it was for two or three provinces
and thus we inherited a situation where a few PCs complete their term every two
or three years. This gave a good opportunity for incumbent governments to test
their popularity from time to time and act accordingly without having to face
the risk of islandwide elections at once and every government has been using
this distortion for their own advantage.
Now the cabinet
has already approved a proposal to amend the election laws and the Constitution
to make it compulsory to have all provincial elections on the same day. But the
problem is, even if the law is passed, how do we get it straight with terms of
PCs ending on different dates? One way is when one or two provincial councils
finish their terms around September to dissolve the remaining councils as well
and to have elections for all. The other option will be to put the PCs which
will be finishing their terms early under presidential control and wait till
the all others finish their terms.
The first
option will be disadvantageous to all PC members who have considerable time to
finish their terms and therefore such a move is likely to be opposed by the
respective provincial councils. The exercise of the second option will mean
postponement of PC elections and that kind of move will any way be resisted and
opposed by all opposition political parties who have already been clamouring
for early local government elections.
The
governing parties will naturally think that postponement of any election is
going to be in their advantage given the wave of problems and the public
protests they are currently facing. The other issue is the major split in the
SLFP which has been deteriorating over several months and the party will need
reasonable time to sort out their issues. Then UNP under Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe has been too busy with mega economic plans and reforms and seems
to be not concentrating on any grassroots level political activities that are
vital if they are to face any election.
Now the
local government elections have been due for a long time and technically they
have to be held before the provincial elections. However, despite necessary
draft legislation for reforming the electoral system being before parliament,
still there is no clear sign about holding such elections in the near future.
However, as
the legal position stands today there is no room to postpone provincial council
elections whenever they become due and the Elections Commission has already
made it clear. The terms of the Eastern, North Central and the Sabaragamuwa
Provincial Councils will expire between September 6 and October 1. Any change
in this situation can occur only thorough the amendments to the provincial
election laws which are likely to be taken up soon.Whichever election is going to be held first, the problems that are to be faced by the government will be the same. With the split in the SLFP such an election is going to be fought by three groups unless the two governing parties decide to form a coalition. Facing such an election alone is a difficult task for the SLFP faction led by President Maithripala Sirisena. On the other hand, the Joint Opposition backed by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa which has been demanding early elections seems to be under the belief that they can enhance their lot at any future poll.
PC electoral system
While the debate over PC elections is on another idea that has already come up is the need for changing the electoral system of the provincial councils. Draft laws for reforming the local government electoral system and introducing a hybrid system being ready, one may propose why not introduce the same for PCs as well. The constitutional process that is going on in the parliamentary steering committee has already developed some comprehensive proposals to introduce a hybrid system at national elections so that it becomes meaningful to have the same for PC polls as well. These are proposals beneficial to the people and electoral reforms at all levels should happen sooner or later.
Many governments in the past while accepting in principle that PR system is not in the best interest of the people, have gone on postponing the electoral reforms for petty reasons. On the other hand, it is equally bad if the current government starts working on these ideas of reforms and drags their implementation with the ulterior motive of postponing elections until the final years of their government’s term.
The best compromise would be to do all the necessary electoral reforms within the shortest possible time and to have the elections without delay so that it will be a win-win situation for both people and the government. In a democracy people are entitled to a good electoral system as well as an unhindered opportunity to exercise their right to vote.
Need for being security conscious
Meanwhile several
security related issues have surfaced in the north in the past few months and
these developments could well be disadvantageous for current attempts to
develop a constitutional solution to the long standing northern issue.
The latest
is the sword attack on two policemen in Kopai preceded by the incident which
ended the life of the police sergeant who was handling personal security of
Jaffna’s High Court Judge. Some of the persons who have been arrested in
connection with these incidents have been proved to be ex LTTE cadres.
In the past
one or two years there have been many such incidents including discovery of
some arms and ammunition in several locations followed by the arrest of a
number of ex-LTTE cadres. The IGP Pujith Jayasundara has pointed out that some
of the recent incidents are akin to the things that happened during the
formative years of the LTTE and it is not possible to say that we have totally
eradicated terrorism from the country.
All this
shows the importance of national security and alertness despite absence of war
and the popular belief that terrorism has been almost wiped out from our
country. In this age and time where terrorist groups are powerful enough to
shake even mighty nations, emergence or re-emergence of terrorism could be a
matter of time. So, the mere fact that the war is over in our country should
not be a reason to be complacent about national security.
With a
history of insurgencies, terrorism and war running into well over three
decades, Sri Lanka can ill-afford to ignore the need for strengthening its
armed forces and intelligence services. This will become more relevant as the
country grows economically and increases its asset base – industrial
installations, power stations, ports and airports etc.In the context of current internal and regional developments, it is likely that terrorism will continue to remain an eternal threat in the foreseeable future. No country can afford to be lax on matters of security and some of the recent happenings are a grim reminder for the necessity of being security conscious.
Let us hope that the political authorities will heed the advice proffered in this commentary and lose no time in going in for the 'win-win situation' suggested by the veteran journalist Gamini.
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