The historic ‘new generation peaceful youth ‘aragalaya’ (the public movement seeking the resignation of the previous Government led by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa)’ at the Galle Face in 2022 that was triggered by the devastating economic and United States Dollar ($) crisis, correctly traced the main root causes of such, and desperately brought to the fore the dire need for reforms under the popular phrase ‘system change’ through slogans such as ‘Gota go home (abolish the Executive Presidency)’, and ‘ditch the 225 (change the electoral system to ensure the entry of country first political professionals)’.
Sovereign voters and the new generation who got energised by the peaceful ‘aragalaya’ to give effect to its unfinished ‘system changes’, now crave for the abolition of the Executive Presidency, fostering ‘Sri Lankan-ness’ and people empowerment at the periphery through changes in the governance system, while ensuring the ‘equality of vote’ and a ‘robust representative democracy’ through the mass media. They expect decent ‘country first political professionals’ including women and youth to represent them in adequate numbers in the Parliament to objectively and consensually debate and decide on the best options for the country devoid of party affiliations, corruption and selfish deals.
With the completion of two years after the ‘aragalaya’, the developing ‘election fever’, precisely symptomises that the traditional politicians are still hell bent on grabbing power for the next five years by hook or by crook through ‘crossover deals’ and dubious alliances. Such steps amply point to the fact that they who are responsible for the present ‘bankruptcy’ are not prepared to put their shoulders to the wheel and are not in the least bothered about the country’s fast accumulating foreign debt, negative terms of trade (imports versus exports) and the need to repay re-structured foreign loan instalments with interest in $s, signalling intermittent ‘bankruptcies’ over the next several decades. In this scenario, they are surely bound to throw the people’s ‘system change’ package to their dustbin.
Thus, the oncoming Presidential Election will be crucial for Sri Lanka’s sovereign voters. Although updated comprehensive ‘system change’ packages have been submitted since 2016, to the press, the relevant authorities, the Select Committees and the Presidential Commissions on Electoral Reforms, to refine our political governance related structure and the electoral system, no headway has been made to date due to reasons best known to them. The politicians with vested interests and for whom the ‘system changes’ were inimical to their survival and status quo preferred to wait till the elections come round the corner to give the stock excuse that there is no time to effect the ‘system changes’. Classic examples are found in the clamour for the ‘abolition of the Executive Presidency’ since 1994 and to reduce the number of Local Government (LG) councillors and members after the LG Elections in 2018 which went out of control and nearly tripled the number of LG councillors and members. The proposed package of ‘system changes’ was designed and updated as and when necessary to treat the root causes by basically ensuring the equality of the vote, the merit based nomination of people’s representatives, ‘Sri Lankan-ness’, simplicity, transparency, rationality, accountability and cost effectiveness.
Also, considering the prevailing economic difficulties in a bankrupt country and low voter literacy, the scope of the proposals are confined to reforming and refining the systems and procedures of the existing political and electoral systems to fully achieve the expectations of the simple sovereign voters and the public in the most rational and realistic way with the least hassle to the authorities and others concerned.
Crucial voter ‘system changes’ in the Presidential Election manifesto
1 Abolish the Executive Presidency
Option 1
Abolish the Executive Presidency from a specified date through a referendum and elect a ‘hybrid governor general’ from three to five candidates proposed by the Constitutional Council or another body with the vote of Parliamentarians and Provincial Councilors. Apart from being the Commander-In-Chief of the country with other ceremonial powers, he/she will have additional powers to appoint Provincial Governors and through them, ensure the timely execution of Parliament approved Acts, laws, budgets and all programmes including the implementation of the time-bound action plan of the Government as per its Election manifesto. In this event, it will become necessary to hold the Parliamentary and Provincial Councils (PCs) Elections to enable the MPs and the Provincial Councilors to vote for electing the hybrid governor general. Since the date for the abolition of the Executive Presidency has to be specified in the referendum, it is best that such referendum too be held along with the General and PCs Elections on a single day.
Option 2
Make the ‘Executive President’ a ‘non-partisan statesman’ sans dictatorial powers, subject to judicial review, calling applications only from ‘independent’ candidates conforming to a robust set of eligibility criteria to be laid down under the respective Act.
Option 3
If Option 2 fails, the ‘Hobson’s choice’ would be to support the best candidate under the existing system, who, as per his/her Election manifesto, will undertake to legalise all relevant new generation ‘system changes’ before holding the General and PCs Elections within one year and others including the abolition of the Executive Presidency within two years of appointment which is the most effective period for any leader as accepted worldwide as follows:
i) Holding the due General and PCs Elections and the referendum for the abolition of the Executive Presidency on a single day, immediately upon legalising the following: a) Ensure the equality of the valid vote and the election of ‘country first political professionals’ at the District level with nominees listed under Electorate level sub-lists in merit order, to appease parties supporting the first past the post system; b) Women and youth representation (20% each) at the Parliament and PCs; c) The submission of prosecutable, monitorable, genuine party Election manifestoes with a time-bound action plan for five years; d) The registration of political parties by stipulating stringent eligibility and high cash deposit requirements to discourage the registration of ‘mushrooming’ or decoy parties; and e) Abolishing the long overdue ‘crossover’ mockery.
ii) The abolition of the Executive Presidency within two years with the election of a ‘hybrid governor general' from the votes of MPs and Provincial Councilors as per Option 1.
iii) The passage of other ‘new generation system changes’ involving the political administration structure: a) Install a ‘sustainable national Cabinet of Ministers’, by allocating portfolios as per the party national vote percentage, allowing representation of parties with a lesser number of votes, and thereby reinforcing efforts to foster national unity through ‘Sri Lankan-ness’ (within 6 months); b) Strengthening PCs with additional powers, if necessary, and rationalising the role and benefits of MPs (within one year); and c) The depoliticisation of the LG Elections (within one and a half years).
2 Prioritise the approval of the critical ‘system changes’
Prioritise the same to be effective before any future Election, and if necessary, through a people’s petition to the Supreme Court (SC) calling for a referendum as proposed by a civil society organisation. If it fails due to time effluxion, resort to Option 3.
3 Another solution
i. As representatives of the people, all MPs and Provincial Councillors are to be constitutionally barred from involving in all matters pertaining to their eligibility and selection criteria as well as salary and other privileges in order to prevent a ‘conflict of interest ’and ensure good governance. The lapse on the part of sovereign voters to enforce their rights as ‘principals’ in a ‘genuine representative democracy’, has enabled the politicians to dominate in regard to all public matters.
ii. The scope and terms of reference of the national Election Commission (EC) and the Public Service Commission are to be widened to provide for final recommendations in regard to ’system changes’ and reforms and all other related matters, with the Parliament giving only formal approval.
iii. The national EC to be strengthened with a permanent task force comprised of retired judges, academics, voter dedicated organisations and civil society activists representing sovereign voters to widen the people’s participation in governance. This ‘task force mechanism’ can be formalised to assist other relevant independent Commissions too.
An updated three part electronic booklet or printed booklet will be made available in a numbered format to improve voter literacy, in all languages, with a foreword from an erudite personality.
Final note
Our existing political and electoral systems stem from implanted complex foreign models that have blurred transparency with complicated processes at the behest of selfish, power hungry politicians who misled the simple voters on the dubious need for so-called ‘stable Governments’ and finally made the country ‘bankrupt’ after 74 years. Thus, as a geographically and demographically small country, with unique and sensitive ethnic issues, Sri Lanka should obviously have a home-grown model that will first comply with ‘equal ballot/suffrage’ conforming to the Constitution and the ‘United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights -1948’. “Be global, but act local.” On the other hand, at this stage, it is necessary to reiterate that the voter’s package of critical system changes has been carefully formulated over the years with a detailed methodology and attendant benefits to ensure legalising within a short period with the least financial outlay. Therefore, it is imperative to forge the above package of critical ‘system changes’ as the national EC’s final recommendations. Towards this end, it is also crucial that our patriotic mass media including the social media, religious leaders, voter dedicated organisations, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the intelligentsia, trade unions and civil society activists bring the country under one banner and clamour for a people’s referendum through the SC to effect the above ‘system changes’ to our electoral and political systems on behalf of the main stakeholder – the sovereign voters, before holding the General Election due in July of next year (2025). If the said referendum fails to materialise before the forthcoming Presidential Election due to time effluxion, the ‘Hobson’s choice’ would be to select Option 3 under the abolition of the Executive Presidency. Ensuring success of this last opportunity again falls squarely on the patriotic mass media and others. Accordingly, if the sovereign voters with enhanced voter literacy, decide to obtain the services of a short-term Executive President for a final period of two years, to genuinely deliver all the said ‘system changes’ given in his/her manifesto, it would surely lay a strong foundation for a change of our political, media and peoples’ culture. Consequently, our country will emerge from this deep financial, economic and cultural abyss and move forward towards a peaceful, secure and prosperous future, facing the rapidly changing global advancements and geo-political challenges.
(The writer is a former Deputy General Manager of the Bank of Ceylon)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.