By Maheesha Mudugamuwa The United National Party (UNP) says the provincial council election should be held under the old system to avoid any further delay. In an interview with The Sunday Morning, State Minister of Irrigation, Water Resources and Disaster Management and UNP Parliamentarian Palitha Range Bandara says the delimitation review process will take another year as it needs to include the amendments that will be suggested to the review committee. He also noted that all political parties should come into an agreement in Parliament to go for provincial council elections under the old electoral system. Following are excerpts of the interview: Q: The defeat of the delimitation report in Parliament has posed a barrier to the holding of provincial council elections under a new electoral system as promised earlier by the Government. How soon can these issues be resolved? When can provincial council elections be held? A: The five-member committee chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been directed to submit its observations and recommendations to President Maithripala Sirisena in two months. When the review report is submitted by the committee, then we will have to go for another delimitation process to amend the delimitation report. If we go for such amendment, it will take another year. When the delimitation report of the local governments was subjected to amendment, the process took about a year to complete the amendments as it got around 12,000 complaints. This report too, will get such complaints. Therefore, if we hold the election till such complaints are considered, then the elections will not be able to hold next year. Hence, we think that the best decision right now is to go for provincial council election under the old system. The Parliament should take a decision in this regard. Q: The report was defeated by a two-thirds majority in Parliament with members of the Government also voting against it. Do you feel this would create a bad precedent in future? A: Not only the Government, but all other parties; the Joint Opposition also voted against the report and the JVP abstained. We did not vote against an Act. We voted against a proposal. If we didn’t vote against it then the mess created at the local government bodies would have been repeated in provincial councils too. Actually, this is a good precedent, as nobody is bound to vote for a bad proposal just because it was presented by the Government. It is a positive development of the Yahapalana Government. We don’t force people to vote for all proposals presented by the Government. They have freedom to decide whether it is good or bad. Q: The provincial council system was put in place as a power devolution mechanism under the 13th Amendment. Would the delay in holding the elections be viewed as a failure of the Government to accept the devolution of power? A: Elections should not be postponed under any circumstances, but it doesn’t mean that we should hold elections under whatever system is put forward by a committee. It is the responsibility of the political parties to select what best for the people. Q: The Opposition has charged that the Government is afraid of being defeated at the PC polls and is looking at ways to postpone the elections. How would you respond to this? A: If the Government is afraid of facing elections then why did the Joint Opposition vote against the delimitation proposal? Are they also afraid of elections? And why did the JVP abstain? If they think that the Government is afraid of elections as it voted against the delimitation proposal then it means the SLFP, JVP, JO, and even the TNA are also afraid of elections. Q: How do you see the UNP’s performance at the local government elections held in February this year? Would it have an impact on the PC polls? A: The local government election is a different dimension. People voted for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) with the hope of appointing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. Therefore, the grassroots level politicians had to contest with the former President; but he is still in the same position as he was prior to the local government elections. Now he is only the Kurungela District MP. He was not even given the Opposition leadership. Now people know the position of the President, Prime Minister, and the Government. At the forthcoming election, we are on a sound footing. We have brought a sense of freedom. We introduced decency to governance. Therefore, we are very confident that the UNP will be able to win the election. Q: How do you view the past three years of the Yahapalana Government? A: We want to educate people on our achievements during the past years. We have brought a sense of freedom into the country. The rule of law is widely upheld by the Government. We do not interfere with the judiciary. There is no abduction of ordinary people or journalists. Disappearances have ceased to exist. We have the pride of place in the international community. There is press freedom. The Right to Information Act was brought about. It was something opposed by the previous government. Though people look at development in terms of rupees and cents, our achievements are permanent and for the future. Q: Would the UNP consider contesting key elections in the future under a coalition with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)? A: No. So far, the UNP has not taken such a decision. SLFP is with us superficially, but, their policies are totally different than that of ours. They will follow their policies and we will follow ours. Q: Has the UNP decided whom the party would field as its candidate at the next presidential election in 2020? A: There will be a candidate from the UNP. That candidate should be able to win the hearts of the people. If we field such candidate, the UNP will definitely win the next presidential election.