The Island Editorial

Biggest enemy of democracy

15 March 2017

UPFA General Secretary and Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, on Monday night, made one wonder whether Houdini was his middle name. In an interview with Hiru TV he strove to duck several curve balls on vital issues. He, however, had to admit that it was not advisable to postpone elections though he sought to defend the indefensible by trying to justify the government’s position that some delimitation issues had delayed the local government polls.

Intrepid former public official, Asoka Peiris, who headed the delimitation review committee, has revealed that he was under political pressure to delay the review process. This alone is proof that the government is ‘manufacturing’ excuses to postpone local government polls as it is unable to face them. Amaraweera tells us the SLFP is polls ready and even if it had faced the mini polls earlier on and fared poorly it would have had ample time to recover and regain lost ground by 2020. He seems to have taken the public for suckers. An electoral defeat will inevitably reduce Maithripala Sirisena to a lame duck president overnight with his loyalists defecting to the dissident camp. It may be recalled that the UPFA’s poor performance at the last Uva PC polls marked the beginning of the end of the Rajapaksa government, which had a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The UNP may be free from internal problems though some of its leaders are still at daggers drawn, but, it, too, does not want an election at this juncture. For, it is dependent on the Maithripala faction of the SLFP to remain in power while preparing itself for the next major election. If the SLFP gets beaten by its dissidents at a local government or provincial council polls, President Sirisena will lose his grip on the party’s Central Committee, which can end the marriage of convenience between the two main parties thus bringing down the government. On the other hand, there will be enough time for a realignment of forces within the SLFP if the Sirisena and Rajapaksa factions clash at local government polls years before the next general and presidential elections; the UNP won’t be able to capitalize on its rival’s rift fully in such an eventuality.

Minister Amaraweera, on Monday, urged the media to campaign for a return to the former ward-based electoral system in spite of opposition from smaller parties, well-disposed towards the Proportional Representation (PR) system. He said he was even for railroading others into accepting the changeover, given the serious flaws in the existing system. He and others of his ilk are barking up the wrong tree in that the preferential vote or manape is not intrinsically bad. It leads to clashes because the two main parties field rogues at elections as evident from their conduct in Parliament, Provincial Councils and Local Government institutions. The JVP is free from manape battles as its candidates put the party before self and their leadership exercises strict control over their campaign finances. The Rathu Sahodarayas, credit where credit’s due, conduct their election campaigns in an exemplary manner. If the political parties end the practice of nominating anti-social elements to contest elections, there will be no polls-related malpractices or violence. Unless they do so, there will be clashes even under the proposed hybrid system.

The PR system is said to involve heavy campaign expenditure. But, the fact remains that MP Dallas Alahapperuma won the last general election in the Matara District even without pasting posters. Milinda Moragoda also carried out a clean election campaign once, but the people of Colombo were not wise enough to appreciate his exemplary conduct in terms of votes so as to encourage others to emulate him.

It behoves the government to heed the concerns of the smaller parties. Minorities, ethnic, religious or otherwise, must not be placed at a disadvantage. As all signs are that the new electoral system won’t be in place till the cows come home, let the government be urged to seek parliamentary approval for holding mini polls under the former system without trotting out lame excuses. Democracy has no bigger enemy than a government which fears elections.