Six years without elected provincial councils,calls for polls intensify

Six years and counting, people have been left without elected provincial representatives, but rather through officials

Opposition MPs are being proactive and trying to break the deadlock that has lingered for more than six years, regarding provincial elections

There were many chances for reforms, but due to bad timing and political motives, the reforms never came into existence

By Mirudhula Thambiah

Is the prolonged delay in holding provincial council polls a matter of procedural deadlock or political calculation? With provincial councils dissolved since 2018-2019, the relevant bodies in nine provinces continue to function only through officials, with concerns being raised from across the political spectrum, along with election monitors, pressure is increasing for the polls to be held without further delay under the old Proportional Representation (PR) System, warning that further postponement would erode democratic representation.

ITAK Batticaloa District Parliamentarian, “My bill is to amend the elections laws to go back to the PR system, to get rid of the current system, which doesn’t have an electorate demarcated and to go back to the old system”

Shanakiyan Rasamanickam
ITAK Batticaloa District Parliamentarian

Sri Lanka’s nine provincial councils, Western, Central, Southern, Northern, Eastern, North-Western, North-Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, were created under the 13th amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No. 42 of 1987 with the aim of devolving powers to the provinces. The last provincial polls were held between 2012 and 2014, but the terms of the councils subsequently expired at different times, between 2018 and 2019. Since then, administration has been carried out by governors and officials appointed by the central government. 

For more than six years, people have been left without elected provincial representatives. The process of holding fresh elections was stuck after the 2017 delimitation committee report, chaired by Dr. K. Thavalingam, was rejected in parliament. With no agreement yet on whether to continue under the old PR system or adopt a mixed electoral model, political parties and civil society are now calling for polls to be conducted without delay under the PR system. 

Election monitors point out that this rejection created a vacuum in the legal framework, which still remains unresolved. People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said, in 2018, it was very clear that the Delimitation Committee had been given a mandate to complete the work within four months. The Commissioner General of Elections was the secretary of the committee. They completed the report, but the political parties did not accept it.

Explaining how the process broke down, he further said, “Due to that, we couldn’t proceed with the elections. There was an alternative mechanism also. If Parliament did not approve the committee report, the second provision was to appoint a committee headed by the Prime Minister to revisit the delimitation report and come back with proposals. Unfortunately, it was delayed. Finally, the then Speaker Karu Jayasuriya appointed a committee headed by the then Prime Minister and gave them three months to review it. But one day before they completed the report, the then-President dissolved Parliament unconstitutionally. Since such developments, the legal framework has been lacking, and nobody knows what to do. It is stuck there. Now only Parliament can do something”.

“President Dissanayake is more popular than his government. I’m requesting him to hold elections”

Mano Ganeshan, 
Leader of TPA

While the deadlock has lingered for more than six years, some parliamentarians are seeking a breakthrough. Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) Batticaloa District Parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam has presented a private member’s bill that would restore the old PR system for provincial council elections. “My bill is to amend the elections laws to go back to the PR system, to get rid of the current system, which doesn’t have an electorate demarcated and to go back to the old system,” he said. Rasamanickam recalled that the same attempt had been made earlier in the Ninth Parliament by ITAK’s General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran, but it was removed from the order paper in September 2023. “It was listed for third reading. On the final reading on September 7, 2023. It was removed from the order paper,” he added. Describing the process the bill has gone through so far and the road ahead, he said, “It is presented in the parliament for first reading. Two weeks were given to challenge its constitutionality at the Supreme Court, but nobody did. Now it is at the stage where the subject minister has to give recommendations. A period of six months within which he had to give the recommendation, and if he doesn’t give his recommendation, I can take it up for second reading,” he added. Rasamanickam said he was ready for the government to take ownership of the bill. “We will be pushing the minister where we are happy for the government to adopt this motion as a government bill, and to adopt it, in that way, we don’t need to waste time”.

Supporting Rasamanickam’s initiative, ITAK’s Sumanthiran accused the government of unnecessarily delaying the process. He pointed out that all that the minister has to do is give a report, and then it can be taken up for second reading. “But they are delaying it,” he added. He noted that the delays could not be seen as accidental. “They are deliberately delaying it. This is a matter that they know about, and they have supported it previously,” he said.

“We had to delay it because we were bringing in some amendments to the Provincial Council Act to increase women and youth representation”

Thalatha Atukorale, UNP General Secretary

Sumanthiran pointed out the effect of delays, stressing that the issue was not limited to minority communities. Not just the minority community, there are powers that are devolved to the provinces. Those powers are not exercised through people’s representatives. “The governors have been exploiting them now for over five years. That is wrong. Under the constitution, several powers are exclusively under the provinces,” he added. According to him, while debates about electoral systems could take time, elections themselves must not be stalled. He noted that electoral system discussions can be delayed, but the elections cannot be delayed. “Even for parliament, there is a long discussion on the electoral system, but nobody has stopped the parliament from functioning,” he said. He pointed out that the mixed-member system had already been tried at the local level but was widely seen as a failure. Despite this, Sumanthiran insisted that the immediate priority is restoring elections under the PR system. “All that we are saying is the PR system, which was in place, must be implemented so that the provincial councils start functioning immediately,”

Leader of Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) Parliamentarian Mano Ganesan urged that the simple way forward was to hold elections under the previous system. He said the easy way is to conduct provincial council elections under the system that existed earlier. According to him, the government’s reluctance was linked to fear of electoral losses. “However, they are now scared to go in front of the people. In the local government elections, they lost 2.3 million votes from the previous elections. They are scared they will lose more votes this time. Not only in the North and East in the South. President Dissanayake is more popular than his government. I’m requesting him to hold elections”.

“The legal framework has been lacking, and nobody knows what to do. It is stuck there”

Rohana Hettiarachchi, PAFFREL Executive Director, 

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Secretary General Parliamentarian Nizam Kariapper also pressed for urgent polls, recalling repeated government assurances and noted that the provincial polls have to be held as soon as possible. “Especially, that was one of the solemn undertakings given by the President, even in his first speech, which was made in parliament. In his policy statement, he very clearly said that no elections will be postponed, and elections will not be delayed. The subsequent time when we raised a question on an adjournment motion, the Minister in charge of Provincial Councils reiterated that under no circumstances will they postpone elections. But it appears to be only lip service, and nothing has been implemented up to now. No constructive steps have been taken by the government to introduce the law that enabled the provincial council elections to be held,” he said.

Kariapper warned against politically timed elections. “Now we doubt that the government is planning the elections not based on its need but based on how politically favourable. People wanted a system change, and the government came with the assurance that they would not repeat the mistake made by the previous regime. Therefore, they must hold the elections as soon as possible”. He also cautioned that launching a new delimitation process would only delay polls further. 

Amid stalled reforms, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa highlighted the urgent need for elections of under-functioning councils. He told the Daily Mirror that the government must make up its mind on the future of the provincial councils. According to Rajapaksa, the government should hold elections if it opts to maintain the provincial councils rather than abolish them. “I think they should hold elections on time. If they had to make a call, they had to make a decision whether to maintain the provincial council or abolish it. Thus, there is no point delaying elections,” he said. Rajapaksa pointed to the inefficiency of unelected administrations, stating, “It is functioned by officials, instead of people’s representatives,”. 

Rajapaksa is of the stance that the nature of the delay is a mix of political as well as procedural. He said it was delayed initially during the time of the Yahapalana Government, where the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was also part of the formation of the government in 2015. “At that time, it was purely political because the government was getting unpopular. They didn’t want to be part of it. They didn’t want to go to the elections at that time. But then, during President Gotabhaya’s time, COVID-19 was there. So, the situation was not that great, and then the economic crisis came. There are many reasons, but at the end of the day, those are not excuses to delay elections,” he said. Rajapaksa concluded that the polls must not be further delayed. 

Meanwhile, United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Thalatha Atukorale acknowledged that the good governance administration too had faced delays but argued the present government had run out of excuses. She insisted elections must take place now. “But it is the government’s duty to have the elections on time. Anyway, it’s delayed”. She said, “We had to delay it because we were bringing in some amendments to the Provincial Council Act to increase women and youth representation. We were looking at a new system where we wanted to increase the women and youth. I would say, whatever the system, they have to have the election soon”.

According to the General Secretary of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Parliamentarian Ranjith Madduma Bandara, delimitation is not necessary in the current context; elections should be held under the old PR system. He said that the SJB will vote when they propose the old system to parliament. Bandara was critical of the governor’s administration, which is the president’s representative. “There is no people’s representation, but it is a dictatorship. We want an election under the PR system,” he added.

Former Minister and Leader of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, Udaya Gammanpila, said, “If the government is genuinely interested in holding provincial council elections, they can do so within a period of one and a half months, by repealing the act. But the government doesn’t do that because they are not genuinely interested in holding provincial polls. While his party opts for a mixed-member system, he noted that until the government works on the demarcation, they can hold elections under the old system.

Anyhow, while the government assured that the elections would not be delayed, it also stated that provincial polls could be expected next year. According to the Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Rathnayake, Provincial Council polls can be expected during the first six months of the upcoming year once the existing legal hurdles are resolved. While Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government Chandana Abeyrathna told parliament on 19 August that the government will not take any action to postpone the elections.

However, Political Commentator Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda said, for the devolution to be meaningful, provincial councils should function. For the provincial council to function, there should be regular and periodic elections. When the elections are not held and if the provincial government is brought under the central government, the whole idea of the provincial council will be in serious doubt. It is considered the second tier of the government. Now the second tier of the government is not functional. Therefore, there is a serious lapse. “Provincial Councils are not facing a natural death but a premeditated death. Sri Lanka’s political class was not very keen on the provincial council,” he added. 

While the debate intensified over whether the delays were due to political calculations or legal deadlock, Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake, says the Elections Commission is ready to hold polls once legal amendments are in place. When queried if the EC was facing any funding issues to conduct elections, he added, “We never had any funding issues to hold provincial polls”.

Multiple attempts made by the Daily Mirror to reach Minister Abayaratne, Deputy Minister Ruwan Senarath and Cabinet Spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa for comments were unsuccessful.