GOVT. SHELVES PLANS FOR PC POLLS

The government faced resistance from within and a segment of the Mahasanga against its move to hold elections to the Provincial Councils (PC). The Cabinet was unable to take a decision last week and instead, referred the matter to be discussed and agreed upon by the leaders of the political parties aligned with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

Apparently the government had yielded to the pressure as it had decided at Tuesday’s Party Leaders meeting to put on hold, at least for the time being, its plans to conduct PC elections.

Two schools of thought prevailed among the parties in the government on the conduct of elections to reconstitute the PCs which current remain without elected representatives. At this meeting, Land Minister S.M. Chandrasena, Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi aired their views in support of PC elections. Mr. Chandrasena and Ms. Wanniarachchi are members of the SLPP. In addition to the party position, they have their own interests to support such elections. Their stand is not necessarily based on ideological grounds in that sense.

Mr. Chandrasena’s brother S.M. Ranjith is waiting in the wings to be the candidate for the post of Chief Minister of the North-Central Provincial Council if the elections are called for at this hour. The same goes for Ms. Wanniarachchi, since her husband Kanchana Jayaratne is eying the same position at the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council. This makes them personally driven to toe a line in favour of PCs. Or else, their ideological position on the Provincial Council system is reinforced further by personal interests. It is difficult to fathom whether Minister Nananayakkara acts with vested interests in voicing for the re-constitution of PCs. Instead, he is a left-leaning politician who believes in power sharing or devolution to the provinces. So he is someone keen to see the Provincial Councils intact.

At the same meeting, three more party leaders—Wimal Weerawansa of the National Freedom Front (NFF), Udaya Gammanpila of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) and Dinesh Gunawardane of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP)—did not support of the idea of holding elections at a time like this. These are parties that are opposed to PCs on principle. They have criticized federalism or any other power sharing arrangements in the harshest possible terms. This time, they put forth their views against the PC elections on the basis that electioneering is impossible under the pandemic situation. They argued at the meeting that the situation was not conducive for the conduct of polls due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Likewise, they said it would not be appropriate to have PC elections until the evolution of a new constitution with a fresh electoral system envisaged in it. They also noted that it would be against the mandate to conduct polls without scrapping land and police powers devolved to the PCs.

After calculation of the general mood of the country and the government leaders, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reported to have said it was not the ideal time now to conduct the polls. The moves for the conduct of PC elections have been withheld as of now accordingly.

Some SLPP leaders believe the PCs should function only with elected representatives, and otherwise they should be scrapped. Currently, the Provincial Councils remain without elected representatives. Their functions are discharged by officials under the leadership of governors. SLPP leaders, including its national organizer Basil Rajapaksa, believe it is of no practical value to keep the councils without elected representatives.

Today, there is a groundswell of public opinion against PCs. This public opinion was created particularly by the members of Mahasanga. The Buddhist clergy remained the main force that laid the ideological base for the election of this government. Therefore, it is not that easy for the government to ignore any protest by them.

Leading Buddhist monks such as Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera even wrote to the President asking for the abrogation of Provincial Councils. He even lashed out at the government publicly against any moves to hold elections.

There is also a legal barrier in the conduct of elections at the moment. The new law that governs such elections remains inoperative over the delimitation process. The government should make it operative by addressing the outstanding technical issues, or enact fresh legislation for the conduct of elections. It is a process involving a lot of time. As such, the conduct of elections is ruled out at the moment.

The Provincial Councils are a phenomenon created as a basis for power devolution demanded by the Tamil parties based in the North and East. It is a political system evolved in response to the demands by these parties after the 1987 Indo-Lanka accord. Ironically, the Tamil parties such as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) remain silent today despite PCs remaining defunct without elected representatives for a long time.