The scheduled Local Government (LG) election is facing myriad challenges, gathering a cloud of uncertainty regarding the conduct of the election properly and on time. On the one hand, a number of administrative issues, especially those pertaining to the provision of resources, have crippled initial preparations for the election, and on the other hand, the Government remains exceedingly silent and lethargic in this regard. The popular notion is that the Government is not at all interested in holding the election simply because its popularity has waned drastically, and that is reflected through the Government turning a deaf ear to requests that those challenges be addressed forthwith.

The newest development in this regard is the Police’s unwillingness, which the Police have dressed up as an inability, to provide police protection for the Government Printing Department during the printing of ballot papers. This is despite a number of appeals made by the Election Commission as well as the Government Printing Department to the Police Department, including to Inspector General of Police Chandana D. Wickramaratne, requesting police protection. However, despite the lack of police protection having severely stalled the process of printing ballot papers, the Police claim that it will have to consider providing protection to the Government Printing Department only when the process begins, and claimed that providing police officers is an arduous task, as a large number of police officers are required to be deployed from various police stations amidst their usual duties.

However, as per the authorities, in addition to the lack of funding, it is the lack of police protection that stands in the way of printing ballot papers for postal voting even with the available funds, which Government Printer Gangani Liyanage stated is the “main reason” for this delay. Even though it was reported last evening (20) that Army and Police personnel had been deployed around the premises of the Government Printing Department, as was learnt by The Daily Morning, it is uncertain as to whether that protection was provided in response to the requests by the Election and Printing authorities.

Sri Lanka has held elections in more turbulent times and amidst incidents that could have directly affected elections. At the same time, successive governments have held elections in more unstable political and economic climates. However, the lack of police protection was never an issue that hindered an election, and the Police Department has never struggled with providing the same. One of the reasons that make the Police’s response questionable is the manner in which it generously and swiftly deployed police officers to manage anti-Government protests. During the past few months, hundreds of police officers have gathered in one location to manage protests, some of which comprised less than 100 protestors. In fact, in some cases, the Police were so proactive that they sought the court’s permission to thwart protests. In this context, claims that the Police find it difficult to provide the meagre number of 65 officers requested by the Election and Printing authorities is not just absurd but is also highly suspicious. 

In any case, if the Police Department is unable to provide police protection, the mere acknowledgement of the same is not sufficient. What needs to be discussed at press briefings is not how these challenges have affected the election process, but what steps could be taken to overcome them. The Police’s responsibility is to take the necessary steps to provide police protection and come up with alternative solutions if providing a mere 65 police officers is such a challenging requirement. 

The Election and Printing authorities too should go beyond the Police’s assistance. They should reach out to the National Police Commission and Public Security Minister Tiran Alles seeking some sort of solution. At the same time, this could be an opportunity to utilise the country’s military as was used during anti-Government protests. In this regard, the Election and Printing authorities could reach out to the Defence Minister and President Ranil Wickremesinghe; and the latter has an obligation to ensure at least military protection for the LG election if he truly is a democratic leader as he claims to be. Ensuring such protection would also justify to some extent the massive military and public security budget.