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Still no decision on electoral system for PC polls

31 Mar 2021

The Government is yet undecided on the electoral system under which to conduct the provincial council (PC) elections due to an amendment brought to the Cabinet of Ministers’ meeting on 29 March. The proposals were to hold the PC elections either under the old system or to amend the PCs Elections Act and hold the elections under the mixed system. The final decision regarding the amendment of the law pertaining to the PC elections was to be taken at the Cabinet meeting held on 29 March. At the meeting, the Cabinet had agreed on the enactment of the PCs (Amendment) Act and to thereby hold the elections under the mixed system (to elect 70% of the members under the proportional representation [PR] system and 30% under the first-past-the-post [FPTP] system). However, Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Dr. Bandula Gunawardana, and Dullas Alahapperuma had opposed the proposal under the PR system of having three candidates per party, per electorate/seat. Thus, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had decided to have a party leaders’ meeting to make a final decision on the amendment and postponed approving the said cabinet paper on the PCs polls. The Government has sought Cabinet approval for the introduction of a new electoral system, a mix of the PR and the FPTP systems, for conducting the PC elections. However, the delimitation process has hit a legal snag, making it impossible for the conduct of the polls in terms of the present law in force. During its election campaign, the Government promised to hold the PCs elections soon after the general election. Then Minister of Justice, Human Rights, and Legal Reforms Nimal Siripala de Silva publicly claimed that the PC elections would be held two months after the parliamentary elections that took place in August 2020. However, even the general election got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, while politicians boasted about holding the PC elections soon, the election monitoring bodies pointed out that no one could predict a time period for when the elections would be conducted before a decision in Parliament was taken about the electoral system under which the next PC elections should be held. As predicted by the monitoring bodies, the Government is yet to decide on the electoral system that it should apply for the upcoming and overdue PC elections. When contacted by The Morning, Election Commission (EC) Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa stressed that the Commission was yet to be officially informed about any government decision taken to hold the PC elections. He said that the elections could be held soon only if an amendment to the existing Act is passed in Parliament. According to sources, the PC elections would take place after October 2021. At present, all nine PCs are not functioning as their terms of office have expired. The terms of office of the Sabaragamuwa and Eastern PCs ended in September 2017, while the term of office of the North Central PC ended in October the same year. The terms of office of the Central, North Western, and Northern PCs ended in September 2018. The terms of office of the Southern and Western PCs ended in April 2019, while the term of office of the Uva PC ended in September 2019. As per the provisions of the PCs Elections Act No. 2 of 1988, within one week of the dissolution of a PC, the EC Chairman is required by law to publish a notice of his/her intention to hold an election to that respective council, and this notice will specify the period during which nomination papers shall be received by the returning officer of each administrative district in the province. However, with the introduction of the PCs Elections (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2017, the entire system of PC elections has been changed, as it made necessary the appointment of a delimitation committee by the President within two weeks of the commencement of that Act, where the delimitation committee has to fulfil its responsibilities within four months of its appointment and thereafter submit its report to the subject minister.


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