As Sri Lanka approaches a pivotal window for democratic reform, voices from across the political spectrum are joining forces to demand more transparent, inclusive, and equitable electoral processes.
Central among them is People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi and Election Commission Commissioner General Saman Sri Ratnayake, who argue that systemic misalignment between vote share and representation has eroded public confidence.
Supporting his calls, Provincial Councils and Local Government Deputy Minister Prabha Ruwan Senarath has echoed concerns and highlighted early Government preparations for reforms to the electoral structure and rectification of flaws in the coming months, including the imminent Provincial Council Elections and related institutional overhauls.
Perception gap in representation
In Sri Lanka, the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system is used in both Local Government and Provincial Council Elections, combining elements of the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) and Proportional Representation (PR) systems.
Under this model, a portion of representatives is elected directly by voters within individual wards (FPTP), where the candidate receiving the most votes in each ward secures a seat. The remaining seats are then filled based on the proportion of votes each political party receives across the entire local authority or provincial council area, allowing for better alignment between a party’s overall support and its seat allocation.
Specifically, in Local Government Elections, 60% of members are elected via FPTP and 40% through PR, while in Provincial Council Elections, the intended model proposes a 50:50 split, although these elections have been stalled since 2018. This hybrid aims to ensure geographic representation while also preserving proportional fairness among political parties.
However, at the heart of the imbalance is what Hettiarachchi refers to as a “misunderstanding” of how PR functions. “Technically, the system operates as designed. But when a party with only a third of the vote ends up controlling the entire local authority, it breeds a perception of unfairness,” he said.
The PR system ensures that seats in a legislature are allocated based on the percentage of votes each party receives, promoting fairness and inclusivity by allowing smaller parties and minority groups to gain representation. This system reduces the risk of dominant-party monopolies and better reflects the political diversity of the electorate. However, it can also lead to fragmented councils or parliaments, coalition governments, and political instability, especially when no party gains a clear majority.
On the other hand, the FPTP system elects one representative per constituency, with the candidate receiving the most votes winning outright. It is simple, quick, and tends to produce stable, majority governments. Yet, its major drawback is that it often disregards the overall vote share; parties can secure large numbers of seats with a minority of votes, leading to disproportional outcomes and marginalising smaller or regionally dispersed parties. It is less expansive to the individual and party, involves less conflict and election violence, but comes at a cost to the State.
This “perception challenge,” Hettiarachchi explained, undermined legitimacy even where the system functioned legally. The same problem has been observed in provincial councils, where a 50-50 hybrid model mixes FPTP with PR.
“Based on these experiences, it’s clear we need the Election Commission and political observers to convene and determine an optimal, context‑appropriate electoral system. The current electoral legal framework is characterised by fragmentation, complexity, and unclear applicability. We need a streamlined and coherent legal structure that is easy to understand for political parties, candidates, and voters alike,” he said.
Reflecting on MMP
Sri Lanka’s turn toward MMP began in 2012 and was more broadly implemented between 2016 and 2017. Though MMP aimed to balance seat allocation with fair vote translation, its increased fiscal burden has raised questions about cost-benefit trade-offs.
“While the MMP system is more costly to the State, it also brought benefits like reducing racial polarisation and campaign expenditures,” said Hettiarachchi. “Every system will have flaws. What we need is a comprehensive evaluation, listing the advantages and disadvantages, before deciding to retain, revise, or revert.”
The ballooning number of members in Local Government bodies is another issue under scrutiny. According to Deputy Minister Senarath, the system has grown too expensive and unsustainable. Reforms will seek to reduce member counts while improving governance efficiency.
Addressing voter disenfranchisement
A pressing concern for PAFFREL is the disenfranchisement of voters due to logistical and physical limitations. Hettiarachchi estimates that up to four million voters may be excluded under existing arrangements. “We must consider advance voting mechanisms for those unable to vote on election day, both overseas voters and local voters with constraints.”
He proposes a suite of inclusivity tools, such as postal voting, e-voting, establishment of special polling stations, mobile voting units, and house-to-house voting for the elderly and disabled.
Despite recent progress, the voting process remains inaccessible for many persons with disabilities. International observers have recommended improvements of polling station design and ballot secrecy. Hettiarachchi called for committed follow through on these recommendations to enshrine genuine electoral inclusion.
A further complication lies in unresolved delimitation issues, which have drawn criticism from stakeholders. Senarath acknowledged that the last Local Government Election was held under pressure following a court ruling, without resolving long-standing concerns about electoral boundaries.
“We had to hold the elections as soon as we could. This was a test and a responsibility for us, because this would be the first election held under a Parliament ruled by the National People’s Power (NPP),” he explained.
The Government is now aiming to treat delimitation as a matter of urgency, with plans to table amendments before the end of the year. However, the Deputy Minister cautioned that if more time was needed, they would not hesitate to delay reforms, as the next elections were still years away.
Election scheduling
Another area ripe for reform is the electoral calendar itself.
According to Hettiarachchi, irregular election timing has long enabled ruling parties to manipulate outcomes to their advantage, undermining the credibility and fairness of the democratic process.
“A move to a fixed electoral calendar could significantly reduce this partisan influence. Such a framework would ensure predictability, empower the Election Commission to plan effectively, and reassure the public that electoral processes are being conducted impartially,” he said.
However, Hettiarachchi noted that implementing this reform would not be straightforward. Synchronising elections across all levels of Government will require extensive logistical preparation, legal reform, and political consensus, particularly to address concerns around staffing, budgeting, and the administrative capacity of election officials to manage large-scale, simultaneous voting exercises.
The independence of the Election Commission is paramount. Yet, budget dependencies have created vulnerabilities. Last-minute financial blocks from the Government led to the postponement of Local Government Elections in 2023, Hettiarachchi emphasised, a situation he described as “unacceptable”. He stressed the need for a legally entrenched funding mechanism that ensures the commission’s impartial execution of duties.
Ratnayake agreed with the notion: “We work to ensure a free and fair election and we function independently, so it would definitely help if we are allowed to plan better for fixed elections and commit to a task on the promise of financial certainty.”
Reforming campaign finance
Sri Lanka’s campaign finance regulations are outdated, inconsistent across different tiers of elections, and often difficult to interpret, even for those directly involved in the political process.
“We need to revisit the legal framework governing campaign financing. The current system lacks uniformity and transparency, and is too vague without stringent rules,” said Hettiarachchi.
These regulatory gaps, he explained, allowed for vast disparities in campaign spending between candidates, giving an unfair advantage to those with deeper financial resources or access to State infrastructure.
Moreover, the absence of clear and consistent rules leaves voters in the dark about where campaign funds originate and how they are spent, fuelling public distrust. Hettiarachchi emphasised that a modern, transparent campaign finance law must be applicable to all levels and should include caps on spending, mandatory disclosures, and an independent mechanism for monitoring and enforcement.
Women’s representation
Gender representation remains deeply unequal. The incumbent Parliament accommodates 22 women parliamentarians, constituting 9.8% of the 225 seats. It is an increase from the 12 women parliamentarians represented in the last Parliament, but still very much below average.
Though quotas require at least 25% female representation in local authorities and provincial councils, implementation thresholds, such as Section 65AA of the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance, where parties need not comply with the quota if they do not possess at least three elected members or more than 20% of the seats, have undermined effectiveness.
“Sri Lanka lacks a democratic culture within party structures that enables women to rise politically,” Hettiarachchi argued. He stated that until parties genuinely embraced meritocracy, quotas were necessary.
He further stated that he would prefer a gender-neutral approach to designing gender quotas. “Perhaps we can have an approach that both genders must have a minimum representation across all governing bodies including Parliament,” he said.
Govt. response
Amid the ongoing uncertainty over Provincial Council Elections and the legal framework governing local government, Deputy Minister Senarath confirmed that no elections would be held in the next six months. Instead, the Government is prioritising a sweeping set of reforms to both the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance and the Provincial Councils Elections Act, while also fast-tracking developmental projects in the north and east.
One major concern raised by the Deputy Minister is the post-election instability caused by fractured mandates and crossover politics, which have prevented the party with the most seats from governing effectively in several local authorities.
“Very recently, we saw in multiple local authorities the problem of the majority being unable to rule,” he noted. “A party may not have 50%, but it is the preferred party for which a majority of the people have voted. What we see instead are fake alliances and people who barely secured a few seats exchanging those for top positions. That is a mockery of the people’s mandate.”
To address this, the ministry is exploring threshold-based rules to ensure that parties with significant public support can control the administration, even without crossing the 50% mark. While a final percentage threshold has not been decided, the aim is to align more closely with democratic principles and prevent backroom deals that undermine the electoral outcome.
On the ongoing issue faced by the Election Commission on gazetting names of members elected or nominated by political parties to local authorities, Senarath claimed it was not an issue of the law, but rather an issue faced by political parties dealing with crossover politics of its members.
Ratnayake echoed these sentiments: “If the political parties can stop their members from crossing over to other parties, they will have better discipline. These are not problems for the commission. These are parties with indiscipline.”