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SLPP’s proposed electoral amendments will destroy smaller parties, claims former Governor

07 Mar 2022

  • Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon writes to political parties urging that amendments be defeated in Parliament
By Dinitha Rathnayake The proposal by the governing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party to amend the electoral system will destroy smaller political parties, alleged former Southern Province Governor and current Centre for Human Rights in Sri Lanka Executive Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon. He charged that this proposal is clearly intended to erase small parties like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), and that it should not be allowed to come into effect. Tennakoon stated this in letters addressed to the registered political parties including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the 11-party coalition of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the United National Party (UNP), the JVP, and other local government bodies. The proposals made by Prof. Sudantha Liyanage to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms on 22 February 2022 were designed to deprive representation of these parties, claimed Tennakoon. He further charged that the Government is trying to hold local government elections around August, without registering 75,000 young voters. It proposes an electoral system in which the divisional percentage is 60:40, eliminating the number of over-hung members created to establish proportional representation, and the winner receiving bonus seats. He noted: “The system of proportional representation, which has been active since 1982, has led to the establishment of a multi-party democracy in the country. The proposed new electoral system will put an end to the multi-party system in local government bodies. An equal-value vote should be the basis of our electoral system.” He added that his observations on the results of the 2018 local government elections show that the proposed electoral system will eliminate proportional representation and give membership to only two or three major parties, creating disproportionate representation in local government bodies that are highly advantageous to one party. “It consolidates power by ‘giving a booster’ to a party that wins by one vote. The group with less than 40% power gets 55-60% more members. This is an extremely corrupt system in which the main party gets seats when the vote is cast for the smaller party,” he stated in the letter. “With the removal of two bonus seats and the overhang, the second and third parties will lose their real representation, while the main party will get the overhang seats and the smaller parties will lose their seats. It will wipe out political parties and independent groups that hold one or two single-member seats in the current local government bodies from the electoral map.” In his letter, Tennakoon also called for action to defeat the proposed vote on 8 March 2022 in the Parliamentary Select Committee.  


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