It may seem inappropriate to talk about the Provincial Council (PC) Elections at present when the Government and Opposition are locked in a tussle over the formation of many Local Government bodies after the elections held earlier this month. However, it must be noted that local elections had been delayed by over two years, while PC Elections have not been held for over a decade.
There is widespread talk in political circles that the Government is in no hurry to hold the Provincial Council Elections for the time being due to the significant drop in the votes of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) at the local polls. Not only the Government, even the Opposition parties are not willing to face the PC Elections in the near future. Therefore, there will be no pressure on the Government from the southern political parties to hold those elections.
At the same time, the Tamil political parties in the north and east are also not demanding that the Provincial Council Elections, which have been delayed for several years, be held soon and the administration of the provinces be handed over to representatives elected by the people. The leaders of the Tamil parties, who usually appeal to Indian leaders to exert pressure for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, do not take up the issue directly with the Government.
Although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in New Delhi and Colombo, within a short span of time, to fully implement Sri Lanka’s constitution and hold PC Elections as soon as possible, it is unclear when the Government will hold these elections.
The President has not publicly responded to Modi’s appeal. He doesn’t often talk about issues related to the national question. He seems to be only wary that any action by his Government on the problems of the minority communities should not alienate the nationalist constituency in southern Sri Lanka.
Dr. Jehan Perera’s stance
Against such a backdrop, the recent comments by two civil society activists and a former diplomat from the south on PC Elections are of particular interest.
National Peace Council Executive Director Dr. Jehan Perera, who has consistently been urging the Government to hold PC Elections as soon as possible, has written that the devolution of power should be revitalised by strengthening the Provincial Councils elected by the people and reducing the gubernatorial powers which hinder the effective functioning of the elected Provincial Councils.
The National Peace Council has also requested the Government to appoint another ministerial-level committee, similar to the one appointed to look into the possibilities of repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to review the curtailing of powers of provincial governors. In fact, this demand should have come from the Tamil parties long ago.
During a meeting with Vikram Misri, who is currently the Foreign Secretary of India, during his tenure as the Deputy Indian High Commissioner in Colombo several years ago, Tamil journalists told him that due to the excessive powers of the governors who were the direct representatives of the executive president, the chief ministers of the provinces were not able to work in an effective manner and that the Tamil people were not able to benefit from the Provincial Councils.
In response, Misri said that Tamil politicians should have demanded and put pressure on Sri Lankan governments to delegate substantial powers of the governors to chief ministers. “Why didn’t they do that?” he asked.
It is timely to recall the statement made by Misri in Colombo, at a time when Dr. Perera is stressing the need to curtail the powers of governors to facilitate the effective functioning of Provincial Councils.
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka’s views
Former diplomat and political analyst Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka has said in a recent article in a Colombo English daily in the wake of the local polls that the Tamil parties, which have considerably recovered from the setback they suffered at the Parliamentary Elections in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, would be wise at the moment to concertedly demand that the Government remove the issues that are hindering the holding of PC Elections through parliamentary measures and hold these elections in time.
He also wrote that such a demand could win support in the south and in the international community and that any negotiations on constitutional reform could only be between the newly elected Provincial Councils and President Dissanayake’s administration. It seems that Dr. Jayatilleka is of the view that the outcome of the talks between the Provincial Councils and the Government can be presented to an all-party conference to move towards an acceptable political solution in the future.
However, the Tamil parties, which have been talking about finding an interim solution to the ethnic problem and moving from it to a long-term solution, are not thinking about the practical approach to be adopted for it.
Delimitation process
It is a general view that the delimitation process, which has not been completed after the enactment of a law in Parliament to hold the PC Elections in a mixed electoral system like the Local Government Elections, is a major impediment to the PC Elections.
Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake has said a few days ago that the PC Elections could be held only if the delimitation process was completed or the law was amended to hold the elections on a fully proportional representation basis.
In a letter to him, civil society activist and political analyst Kusal Perera said the Chairman of the commission was misinterpreting the existing legal framework. He argued that there was no bar on the commission to hold PC Elections even if the delimitation process had not been completed. He had pointed out that the existing Provincial Councils Election Act did not become invalid if Parliament failed to pass amendments or complete the delimitation process. The commission is yet to respond to the letter.
It is strange that while at least a few of the civil society activists and political analysts in the south are making such demands and comments, there is no interest on the part of the Tamil side, whether from politicians or political analysts, in demanding early PC Elections.
Tamil polity in limbo
No one should assume that this writer believes that a lasting political solution to the national question can be found either through PCs or through the implementation of the 13th Amendment.
However, no one can deny the fact that even 16 years after the end of the war, the Tamil polity is still in political limbo and has no clarity on where to start in their approach to dealing with the problem.
There has been no change in the situation even as the Tamil parties have gained more votes at the local elections, claiming that Tamils in the north and east have rejected the NPP. It seems that Tamil politicians are satisfied that the votes they received have once again proved that the Tamil people have not given up Tamil nationalist political aspirations.
However, they are yet to reach an agreement on the formation of local bodies in the Tamil areas. They could unite only in demanding the Tamil people to vote against the ruling party.
Sumanthiran’s desire
Meanwhile, former Member of Parliament (MP) and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran, who met the leaders of the Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) after the local elections, expressed his desire to contest as the chief ministerial candidate of his party at future Northern PC Elections.
At a media conference, ITAK Leader C.V.K. Sivagnanam told journalists that it was unnecessary to talk about the chief ministerial candidate as he did not know when the PC Elections would be held. He also urged journalists not to raise the issue of the PC Elections.
During an interview last week with a private television channel in Jaffna, ITAK Parliamentary Group Leader Sivagnanam Shritharan was also asked about Sumanthiran’s desire to contest as the chief ministerial candidate. In response, he made some criticisms of Sumanthiran and said that there was no possibility of PC Elections being held soon. Shritharan cited the legal impediment over delimitation as one of the main reasons.
As a politician, there is nothing wrong in Sumanthiran wanting to be the chief ministerial candidate of his party. The party can decide its candidate when the elections are announced.
While the ITAK is now said to be under Sumanthiran’s control, despite the vicious campaign against him by almost all the Tamil parties and a section of his party, the people in the north, especially in the Jaffna peninsula, have voted more for the ITAK. Therefore, a question inevitably arises as to how the Tamil people are currently viewing the hate campaigns against him. The victory of the ITAK at the local elections may have given Sumanthiran the confidence to run as the chief ministerial candidate.
However, Sivagnanam and Shritharan, in response to questions from journalists about Sumanthiran’s desire, should have said that they will press the Government to hold the PC Elections as soon as possible beyond the issue of the chief ministerial candidate, rather than saying that the elections are unlikely to take place for the time being. They did not display such political maturity.
It is as if the personal animosity and personality clashes among our Tamil politicians run so deep that if there is a chance that someone they do not like could be elected as chief minister, they might even be happy if the PC Elections are not held.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)