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Tuesday, 15 July 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Dharisha Bastians
The main opposition United National Party pitched into the Polls Chief yesterday for acting at the whims and fancies of the Executive to disenfranchise voters and reallocate district representation in regions politically disadvantageous to the ruling Government, as the country gears up for the next round of provincial elections.
UNP National List Legislator Eran Wickramaratne claimed that his party had no faith in the independence of Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya and the commission, whose independence had been further eroded with the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the enactment of the draconian 18A.
“Election monitoring bodies have released report after report about abuse of state property by the ruling Government. What has the Elections Chief done about all these complaints? Sweet nothing,” Wickramaratne charged.
The UNP Lawmaker said that the Polls Chief was now attempting to change the seat allocation in the Uva Province, based on geographic size rather than on the population of the region. The number of Parliamentarians and or Provincial Councillors for a particular district is determined by the number of voters in that area, Wickramaratne explained.
“Now the Elections Commissioner is trying to change this allocation, so that in the Badulla District there will be one representative elected for every 40,000 votes, while in the Monaragala District only 32,000 votes will be required to send one elected representative to a legislative body,” he said. “Basically in Monaragala you will need nearly 40% less votes to elect a representative in the district. Therefore even with fewer votes, you get a higher number of representatives elected,” Wickramaratne added.
He said that the Government was sensing its political fortunes in Badulla were not good and the manipulation of the seats was aimed at winning a greater number in the Monaragala District and still holding the Uva PC.
“The Elections Commissioner claims he has referred the question to the Attorney General before he makes a decision. We have no faith in this AG’s Department. It functions under the President ever since the 18th Amendment was enacted,” Wickramaratne charged.
He said the Polls Chief was playing into the Government’s hands with the tactics.
“What they cannot win directly, they want to win through manipulation. By strategically reallocating seats to a more advantageous district or by ensuring masses of people are disenfranchised by a shadowy re-registration process,” he charged. The Elections Commission required all voters to re-register every year in order to be eligible to vote, but the UNP MP said most of the country had no idea by which date each year voter registration had to take place.
The Government already has records of people’s birth and deaths and in a properly working system, every person in the country turning 18 should receive a letter from the State, informing him or her that he is now a voter. “It should not be necessary to register each year. This uncertainty and lack of regulation about registration gives authorities license to disenfranchise entire lists of voters,” Wickramaratne accused. Wickramaratne said that the right to vote was the constitutional right of the citizen, but under the current electoral system, it was the citizen’s responsibility to give effect to that right by re-registering with the Commission each year. If this was the system, it should at least be transparent, open and be simple for citizens to follow. “Shouldn’t the Elections Commission be taking out advertisements to announce the deadlines for this registration, especially since it seems to change every year?” the Opposition Lawmaker remarked.
Where once ruling politicians would attempt to cast fraudulent ballots, now they could manipulate entire lists of voters through the re-registration failures, he explained.
Presidential election dates a secret between President and CJ: Eran
Prevailing uncertainty about the next round of national elections only served the interests of the incumbent regime and the President, UNP Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne said yesterday.
“The date of the next election is a secret between two individuals in this country – the President and the Chief Justice,” Wickramaratne charged.
He said that the President was using a constitutional provision to refer questions about when he can call the next election to the Chief Justice in secret and the response was also delivered to the President in confidence. Not even Parliament was privy to when the election might be expected, Wickramaratne complained.
“This is not a kingdom. This is a republic. Elections must happen according to a season. But in this country no one knows when the next Presidential or Parliamentary election will be. There is no transparency in the affairs of rights and nation building,” the UNP MP charged.
Although elections and terms of office were defined by the Constitution, Wickramaratne explained that the Executive President was manipulating the electoral system arbitrarily.
“In which other country in the world does an elected President take his oath of office whenever his fancy strikes him? After the last presidential election, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn almost one year after his election to office. In no other place on earth does this happen,” he charged.
