Looking at the big picture

Wednesday, 29 February 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

WHILE the UN sessions unfold in Geneva, there is a danger of other issues within the country suffering from attention deficit. While elections are at the bottom of the people’s attention span, the quest for democracy continues largely unobserved.

Election monitors have pointed out that more than 3,000 eligible voters in camps for Internally Displaced Persons may not have the chance to vote at the upcoming local government elections in Mullaitivu and Puthukudiyiruppu next month since they do not have proper identification cards.

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) has said that it had written to Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to inquire on whether the IDPs could use their camp identity cards to vote at the election.

It is not necessary to possess a National Identity Card at an election as long as the voter has some kind of identification. However, most people in Menik Farm and the other areas where elections will be held do not possess a driving license, passport or other such documentation and therefore it is necessary to ensure they have some type of identification, insists PAFFREL.

It is imperative to increase awareness of this issue so that voters can apply for temporary identification during the next two weeks before Election Day on 24 March. The effect of this initiative is not simply for this election, but is a necessary process to absorb former war-torn areas into the democratic process.

In previous elections, the northern part of the country had low voter turnouts, partially due to lack of interest and partly because transportation and identity cards were a containment. The latest round of elections is a chance to take a step in remedying this oversight so that more displaced people have the chance to participate in the election process and have their voice heard.

Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe addressing the UN sessions on Monday vociferously defended the Government’s steps to promote human rights, stressing that its commitment was not only absolute but demonstrated by the many steps taken since the end of the war. It was unclear how this speech was received, but one thing that can be depended on is that promoting democratic principles would stand Sri Lanka in good stead in the present as well as future situations.

Small as these upcoming elections are, it gives the State a chance to see whether the vicious cycle of violent elections and party infighting can be minimised. In the last round of elections, a Presidential Advisor was killed, allegedly by a Member of Parliament. That alone is enough to give an idea of how low the election process has sunk and it is imperative that this be part of the larger human rights and good governance process if the Government is serious about its intention to clean up its record.

There are many reasons that these elections can give an indication to the Government of what their alliances are and if the overall country policies are seen as valuable by them. Therefore promoting democracy through them should again attention despite the smallness of the election’s immediate result.