Our ‘on again, off again’ LG polls - EDITORIAL

On Saturday the media announced that the Elections Commission announced Local Government (LG) elections scheduled for March 9, could not be held on the due date, and a new date would be set to hold the elections.

Earlier President Wickremesinghe in Parliament claimed no date had been set for the holding of local government elections. Opposition Members of Parliament accused the president of manipulating facts. They pointed out the United National Party (UNP) - of which Wickremesinghe is the leader - had in fact handed over names of members nominated by the party to contest the LG polls.

Holding of elections in a timely manner is a constitutional right of the people of this country. It is also a means the ‘sovereign people’ give their verdict on how their representatives have performed. 

That elections were likely to be postponed, was no big secret to the people of the country. President Wickremesinghe had for some time been hinting that the economic woes of the country, the non-availability of liquid funds and government’s inability to spend large sums of money needed to conduct the poll.
With the cost-of-living way beyond the means of the ordinary people, a defeat for the governing party was on the cards. Scenting a chance to defeat the ruling party, the political opposition has been vociferously demanding the elections be held in a timely manner.

This is to be expected. 
But what is sad is the usual way our politicians are using ‘scare-monger’ tactics to deceive the population. It is being claimed, if LG elections are not held as scheduled, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may scuttle the debt restructuring facility.

In fact the IMF debt restructuring facility has nothing to do with our holding local elections or not. The granting of this facility depends on how our creditors see the steps that we are taking to avoid the mistakes which led us into the present economic mess. Again, parties of the opposition also claim that postponing the date of local elections is taking the country on the path to a dictatorship.

In a strange twist, these politicians and political parties, did not seem worried when local elections were not held in the north and east of the country for decades, during the course of the ‘ethnic war’. None of the southern politicians opposed moves to not hold the hustings in those areas of the country at that time.

This is not to say this paper agrees with the manner in which constitutional requirements are being manipulated to postpone local elections. But it brings out the truth in the proverb ‘what’s sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander’ - one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment.

The fact of the matter is that we are caught up in an economic mess of our own making. Today’s economic woes were not created by our political leaders alone.
‘We the people’ continued voting for those politicians who promised us subsidies on all manner of goods. We never questioned, as to how we were going to meet the costs of the subsidies we were receiving. 

A particular political leader promised to bring us subsidized rice from the moon. We voted him/her into power. More recently, another political leader invited robber barons into the country. We gave him/her a steam-roller majority in parliament, leading to the rolling out of a new Constitution, whereby the mass of the people was made subject to a single individual.
We next voted for a leader who promised to cut taxes. We lost the funds needed to meet the costs of goods, services and essentials - one of them being the timely holding of elections.

Today we are squabbling over the holding of local elections. Will the holding of this poll, help bring economic stability, succour to the suffering masses, or could the costs of holding the poll, lead to a further rise in inflation?
It’s like the question of ‘a diamond or a coal’. An election victory may seem like a glittering diamond to the winner. But the resultant inflation would be akin to a bleak winter freeze hitting the thousands who are finding it difficult to provide their children a square meal a day.
So what will be our choice? A diamond for political parties or the winter’s freeze for the have-nots of the country?