Procrastinating polls put country’s future in dilemma

Despite there being laws pertaining to various elections in the country, Sri Lankan politicians have always attempted to by-pass those laws to push the former Elections Department or the current Elections Commission to hold the elections they prefer at a time more favourable to them. The ruling United National Party (UNP) and its coalition partner, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) some time ago wanted to postpone the local government elections in fear of defeat and they used the delimitation process to that end.   

After the humiliating defeat at the local government elections in February last year, they, especially the UNP feared the provincial council elections as well and they again brought in the delimitation issue through an amendment to the provincial council election law which was introduced in an unscrupulous manner. And now those elections have met an impasse.   
Now, according to the latest issue of our sister paper, The Sunday Times, President Maithripala Sirisena is contemplating to manipulate the law to hold a mid-term Parliamentary election. As he has no authority to dissolve Parliament until the expiry of four years and six months since the first meeting of the current Parliament, (until next February), he is said to be planning to hold a referendum through which he would seek the people’s consent for an early general election.   

The only referendum in Sri Lanka was held in 1982 by the then President JR Jayewardene in which consent of the electorate was sought to postpone the general elections scheduled to be held in that year, for another six years. And that referendum has gone down in history as the most corrupt poll in the country. However, this time President Maithripala Sirisena wants not to postpone the election but to advance it.   

The Parliamentary election is due in July next year, but the 19th Amendment to the Constitution provides for the President to dissolve Parliament in February. Yet, according to the Constitution, “the President may … submit to the People by Referendum any matter which in the opinion of the President is of national importance.” Accordingly, he seems to be planning to hold a referendum to hold a mid-term general election.   

However, he would not be able to hold a referendum until the end of September, as the GCE Advanced Level examination is scheduled to be held in August and there should be a campaign period as well for the referendum. 

Therefore, in case of people approving an early general election at the referendum, and even if the election is immediately announced, it would only be held in late October or in November. Then, what is the country or at least the President going to gain by holding the general elections only three months earlier, after having spent more than a billion rupees for the referendum?   

There would be another practical problem unless the campaign periods for the referendum and the general elections are unusually shortened. A general election cannot be held in November as the Presidential election has to be held before December 9, according to the Constitution and it will also need a campaign period. Hence, even if the President manages to get the support of the other political parties or to prevent them from boycotting the referendum, there is hardly any possibility of holding general elections before the Presidential election, due to time constraints.   

The President has already faced a major hurdle for his move. The Joint Opposition and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) -- the two entities led by former President and Kurunegala District Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa, has vowed to defeat his manoeuvre. Since Rajapaksa and his group preferred a general election over the Presidential election during the “51 day regime” and after, President Sirisena might have thought to launch another “coup” with his support. 

However, with the anti-Muslim rift in the country having created an advantageous situation for the SLPP, the former President seems to be more confident to field one of his confidantes, most probably a member of his family for the Presidential fray.   

The reason behind the President’s move is clear. He is in a hurry to oust Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe from the post with whom he has been at loggerheads. The conflict between the two has already cost the country dearly. Nevertheless, no political party has the moral right to call his move unethical, since all parties, especially the three main parties -- UNP, SLFP and the SLPP had manipulated or attempted to manipulate the elections, in their favour in the past.