The Island Editorial

There’s a hole in the bucket ...

13 January 2017

 

Chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC) Mahinda Deshapriya has lamented that the postponement of the local government (LG) polls has adversely impacted democracy, as we reported on Tuesday. One cannot but agree with him. He has said his institution is ready to conduct the much-delayed elections. But, that can be done only after the electoral reforms are ratified by Parliament, he has said. There lies the rub! The government has dismissed as flawed the report submitted by the Asoka Peiris committee which reviewed the recommendations made by the delimitation committee headed by Jayalath Dissanayake.

What we are witnessing is a political version of the evergreen, auditory feast, There’s a hole in the bucket sung by Harry Belafonte and Odetta in their inimitable style. The government is playing Henry and the NEC Liza with the former outwitting the latter. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration is using holes in reports on the delimitation process as a stock excuse to shirk its electoral responsibilities. No amount of arguing will make it solve the existing problems that prevent the country from going to the polls in the foreseeable future.

Pressure is mounting on the government to honour its Geneva commitments. The recently released Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTFRM) report, which calls for the participation of foreign judges in proposed war crimes trials, presages more trouble for the ruling coalition on the political front. President Maithripala Sirisena has done a Pontius Pilate; he avoided a ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat, where the aforesaid report was handed over to former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. But, he cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for the recommendations made by an outfit his own administration appointed. The same goes for the UNP and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Although the President and the PM have rejected the participation of foreign judges, the UNHRC resolution, which their government co-sponsored, provides for that.

The government is in a dilemma. On the one hand, it does not want to antagonise the western bloc by reneging on its Geneva commitments. On the other, it is wary of implementing them for fear of losing votes. Its loss will be the Joint Opposition’s gain.

The EU has restored the GSP Plus and the government is cock-a-hoop though it is wholly inadequate by way of economic relief. Too little, too late! Billions of dollars are needed to stabilise the economy and grant relief to the public if the yahapalana regime is to face an election confidently.

Moreover, the prospect of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe having to lead the LG polls campaigns of their parties and pitting themselves against each other in the process has evidently filled the ruling coalition and its backers with alarm. For, a fierce clash between the two parties led by their own leaders will have a devastating effect on the joint administration’s unity. Hence, the government is using every trick in the book to avoid the mini polls. Economic woes of the public, aggravated by unconscionable tax, levy and tariff increases, bribery and corruption, cronyism, nepotism, abuse of power and unfulfilled election pledges have also made the mini polls a frightening proposition for the government.

The alleged flaws in the Asoka Peiris committee report have come as a godsend for the government. The entire delimitation review process is sure to start over much to the chagrin of the people waiting to exercise their franchise. It is unbecoming of a regime which came to power promising to usher in good governance to look for excuses to postpone elections for political reasons.

Trying to fix holes in the Asoka Peiris report will be an exercise in futility as the government is determined to delay the delimitation process further. What needs to be done is to ratchet up pressure on the powers that be to hold the LG polls under the PR system while action is taken to rectify the errors in the delimitation process and introduce the promised hybrid electoral system.