By Skandha Gunasekara
The election culture in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate, as opined by several election-monitoring bodies, and the future of the much-delayed provincial council (PC) election continues to be in limbo with neither the Government nor Parliament taking steps to conduct the crucial polls.
In the past two decades, Sri Lanka has experienced successive governments manipulating the election schedules by bringing forward, staggering, or postponing them – regardless of whether they are local government authority elections, PC elections, general elections, or presidential elections.
“The Rajapaksa Government for example was notorious for staggering elections as well as for bringing forward a presidential election by a year,” said People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections Executive (PAFFREL) Director Rohana Hettiarachchi, adding that the incumbent Government was delaying elections for their own benefit.
Similarly, the previous Good Governance Government and the incumbent United National Front (UNF)-led government have both been continuously delaying PC elections.
Yesterday (20), the term of the Western Provincial Council ended, resulting in a total of eight out of the nine PCs ending their official terms.
The term of the final PC, the Uva Provincial Council, is set to expire on 24 October this year.
Election-monitoring bodies, the Elections Commission, and even the Election Secretariat have accused the Government of intentionally delaying elections.
The official causation
The official reasons for delaying the elections are that the political party leaders cannot come to an agreement on an electoral system to hold the PC elections and by default must hold it under the new electoral system – the mixed system – which was adopted in 2017.
However, to go ahead with the new system, which is a mixture of the first-past-the-post method and the preferential representation method, the various demarcations must be carried out by a government delimitation team.
A report of the delimitation committee was to be presented to the Parliament, which must pass it with a two-thirds majority for the contents of the report to become law and in order for the PC elections to be held.
The delimitation report was presented to the Parliament on 6 March 2018 by the then-Minister of Provincial Council and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha.
On 24 August 2018, 139 voted against the delimitation report while zero parliamentarians cast votes in favour, effectively defeating the vote on the report.
Thereafter, on 28 August, a five-member review committee headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed to review the delimitation report and submit a separate report within a period of two months ending on 28 October 2018.
Nonetheless, no such report from the review committee has been released up to date.
As a result, the process to even call for PC elections has come to a complete standstill.
Presumed underlying motives
PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi charged that the incumbent Government had no political will to hold PC elections.
“Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are responsible for this delay,” he said.
Hettiarachchi said that there were two practical and doable options – one before the Parliament and the other before President Sirisena – to ensure PC elections are held as soon as possible.
He said that the Parliament could pass a new bill, making the newly-adopted electoral system effective from a later date.
“If the Parliament presents and passes a bill making the effective date of the new electoral system from say, the year 2020, then PC elections can be held under the previous system without the need for any delimitation report,” Hettiarachchi said.
With regard to the option available to the President to resolve the situation, Hettiarachchi said that the President could simply gazette the delimitation report which was presented to the Parliament.
Furthermore, Hettiarachchi said that it was crucial that an official election calendar be established in the country.
“An election calendar would ensure elections are held on time. It will also greatly reduce costs incurred by the Government when they call snap elections. Other countries have election calendars and as a result, have an efficient election culture,” he iterated.
Centre for Monitoring Election Violence National Organiser Manjula Gajanayake said that the political party leaders could resolve the issue by coming to an agreement to hold the elections under the old system.
“The whole issue arose because the political parties didn’t want to conduct elections under the new electoral system, which they themselves passed in Parliament in 2017,” he said.
He said that if the party leaders could agree to go back to the previous electoral system, then a bill could be passed, changing the effective date of the new electoral system to a later date.
He said the alternative would be for members of the general public and civil societies to go before courts over the matter.
“However, we have done this on a previous occasion and the judgment by the courts took several years – time that we do not have,” he added.
Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena told The Sunday Morning that they had already filed a case before the Supreme Court.
“This intentional delay has already deprived 90% of the voters of their right to franchise,” he said.
Gunawardena said that they had been compelled to go before the Supreme Court as the Elections Commission had failed to call for elections.
“PCs are part of the Constitution and as a result, the Elections Commission has the power to call for PC elections. But they have failed to do so,” he stated.
He said the Government was intentionally delaying elections as it was afraid of a defeat, similar to the local government elections in February 2018.
“The Government suffered a significant loss during the 2018 local government elections to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), and it is afraid that result would be repeated at the PC elections.
Therefore, they are intentionally delaying an election which is undemocratic,” Gunawardena said.
Corresponding perspectives
Election Secretariat Director General Sarath Rathnayake too said that it appeared the Government was intentionally dragging its feet on the matter of PC elections.
“It appears the Government has its own agendas and therefore, is intentionally delaying PC elections from being conducted,” he stated.
He also said that the Election Secretariat was helpless to call for elections.
“Our hands are tied on this matter as we don’t have the power to call elections until either the electoral system is changed to the previous system or the President gazettes the delimitation report presented to Parliament,” Rathnayake said, echoing the solutions proposed by the PAFFREL Chief.
When questioned as to whether there was a need for an election calendar in the country, Rathnayake said that an election calendar would greatly help solve such issues.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that, under present legislation, it was not possible to have an election calendar, as the Government of the day could decide on election dates.
“Although there are term limits for local government authorities, provincial councils, the Parliament, and the president, according to our Constitution, the president has the power to call early elections.
For example, he could dissolve the Parliament a year earlier than its tenure. Similarly, if the president was contesting, he could call for a presidential election one year earlier than when his term ends,” Rathnayake said.
Elections Commission Member Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole told The Sunday Morning that the future of the PCs was in the Government’s hands.
“It is up to the Government but they have not done anything. They’re neglecting their duty,” Hoole said.
He said that the Government appears to be deliberately postponing the PC elections.
“They don’t want elections and appear to be undermining the whole thing. This is how I see it,” he added.
He alleged that delaying elections would damage the country’s democratic credentials.
“Not only the country’s but also the credentials of the political parties that claim to uphold democracy are being tarnished,” he added further.
When The Sunday Morning reached out to the Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake but he seemed to not have any knowledge of the report of the review committee headed by the Prime Minister, on the delimitation report.
He simply claimed that he had “no idea” regarding the report.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Ministry of Provincial Councils, Local Government, and Sports Kamal Padmasiri said that the Government was waiting on the Parliament.
He said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had sought the advice of the Attorney General on how to move forward with the matter.
He said that the Government would take a decision once the Speaker is informed of the Attorney General’s advice.
The election culture in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate, as opined by several election-monitoring bodies, and the future of the much-delayed provincial council (PC) election continues to be in limbo with neither the Government nor Parliament taking steps to conduct the crucial polls.
In the past two decades, Sri Lanka has experienced successive governments manipulating the election schedules by bringing forward, staggering, or postponing them – regardless of whether they are local government authority elections, PC elections, general elections, or presidential elections.
“The Rajapaksa Government for example was notorious for staggering elections as well as for bringing forward a presidential election by a year,” said People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections Executive (PAFFREL) Director Rohana Hettiarachchi, adding that the incumbent Government was delaying elections for their own benefit.
Similarly, the previous Good Governance Government and the incumbent United National Front (UNF)-led government have both been continuously delaying PC elections.
Yesterday (20), the term of the Western Provincial Council ended, resulting in a total of eight out of the nine PCs ending their official terms.
The term of the final PC, the Uva Provincial Council, is set to expire on 24 October this year.
Election-monitoring bodies, the Elections Commission, and even the Election Secretariat have accused the Government of intentionally delaying elections.
The official causation
The official reasons for delaying the elections are that the political party leaders cannot come to an agreement on an electoral system to hold the PC elections and by default must hold it under the new electoral system – the mixed system – which was adopted in 2017.
However, to go ahead with the new system, which is a mixture of the first-past-the-post method and the preferential representation method, the various demarcations must be carried out by a government delimitation team.
A report of the delimitation committee was to be presented to the Parliament, which must pass it with a two-thirds majority for the contents of the report to become law and in order for the PC elections to be held.
The delimitation report was presented to the Parliament on 6 March 2018 by the then-Minister of Provincial Council and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha.
On 24 August 2018, 139 voted against the delimitation report while zero parliamentarians cast votes in favour, effectively defeating the vote on the report.
Thereafter, on 28 August, a five-member review committee headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed to review the delimitation report and submit a separate report within a period of two months ending on 28 October 2018.
Nonetheless, no such report from the review committee has been released up to date.
As a result, the process to even call for PC elections has come to a complete standstill.
Presumed underlying motives
PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi charged that the incumbent Government had no political will to hold PC elections.
“Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are responsible for this delay,” he said.
Hettiarachchi said that there were two practical and doable options – one before the Parliament and the other before President Sirisena – to ensure PC elections are held as soon as possible.
He said that the Parliament could pass a new bill, making the newly-adopted electoral system effective from a later date.
“If the Parliament presents and passes a bill making the effective date of the new electoral system from say, the year 2020, then PC elections can be held under the previous system without the need for any delimitation report,” Hettiarachchi said.
With regard to the option available to the President to resolve the situation, Hettiarachchi said that the President could simply gazette the delimitation report which was presented to the Parliament.
Furthermore, Hettiarachchi said that it was crucial that an official election calendar be established in the country.
“An election calendar would ensure elections are held on time. It will also greatly reduce costs incurred by the Government when they call snap elections. Other countries have election calendars and as a result, have an efficient election culture,” he iterated.
Centre for Monitoring Election Violence National Organiser Manjula Gajanayake said that the political party leaders could resolve the issue by coming to an agreement to hold the elections under the old system.
“The whole issue arose because the political parties didn’t want to conduct elections under the new electoral system, which they themselves passed in Parliament in 2017,” he said.
He said that if the party leaders could agree to go back to the previous electoral system, then a bill could be passed, changing the effective date of the new electoral system to a later date.
He said the alternative would be for members of the general public and civil societies to go before courts over the matter.
“However, we have done this on a previous occasion and the judgment by the courts took several years – time that we do not have,” he added.
Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena told The Sunday Morning that they had already filed a case before the Supreme Court.
“This intentional delay has already deprived 90% of the voters of their right to franchise,” he said.
Gunawardena said that they had been compelled to go before the Supreme Court as the Elections Commission had failed to call for elections.
“PCs are part of the Constitution and as a result, the Elections Commission has the power to call for PC elections. But they have failed to do so,” he stated.
He said the Government was intentionally delaying elections as it was afraid of a defeat, similar to the local government elections in February 2018.
“The Government suffered a significant loss during the 2018 local government elections to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), and it is afraid that result would be repeated at the PC elections.
Therefore, they are intentionally delaying an election which is undemocratic,” Gunawardena said.
Corresponding perspectives
Election Secretariat Director General Sarath Rathnayake too said that it appeared the Government was intentionally dragging its feet on the matter of PC elections.
“It appears the Government has its own agendas and therefore, is intentionally delaying PC elections from being conducted,” he stated.
He also said that the Election Secretariat was helpless to call for elections.
“Our hands are tied on this matter as we don’t have the power to call elections until either the electoral system is changed to the previous system or the President gazettes the delimitation report presented to Parliament,” Rathnayake said, echoing the solutions proposed by the PAFFREL Chief.
When questioned as to whether there was a need for an election calendar in the country, Rathnayake said that an election calendar would greatly help solve such issues.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that, under present legislation, it was not possible to have an election calendar, as the Government of the day could decide on election dates.
“Although there are term limits for local government authorities, provincial councils, the Parliament, and the president, according to our Constitution, the president has the power to call early elections.
For example, he could dissolve the Parliament a year earlier than its tenure. Similarly, if the president was contesting, he could call for a presidential election one year earlier than when his term ends,” Rathnayake said.
Elections Commission Member Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole told The Sunday Morning that the future of the PCs was in the Government’s hands.
“It is up to the Government but they have not done anything. They’re neglecting their duty,” Hoole said.
He said that the Government appears to be deliberately postponing the PC elections.
“They don’t want elections and appear to be undermining the whole thing. This is how I see it,” he added.
He alleged that delaying elections would damage the country’s democratic credentials.
“Not only the country’s but also the credentials of the political parties that claim to uphold democracy are being tarnished,” he added further.
When The Sunday Morning reached out to the Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake but he seemed to not have any knowledge of the report of the review committee headed by the Prime Minister, on the delimitation report.
He simply claimed that he had “no idea” regarding the report.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Ministry of Provincial Councils, Local Government, and Sports Kamal Padmasiri said that the Government was waiting on the Parliament.
He said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had sought the advice of the Attorney General on how to move forward with the matter.
He said that the Government would take a decision once the Speaker is informed of the Attorney General’s advice.