CMU condemns cowardly attempts to prevent elections

The Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers’ Union (CMU) in a statement yesterday condemned what it described as “cowardly attempts” by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to prevent elections.

Following is the full statement.

Knowing well that there is growing public anger and resentment against his rule and that of his SLPP-led Government, President Wickremesinghe has now sought to postpone Local Government Elections by devious means. 

The Government Printer appears to have been coerced to refuse printing the Postal Voting documents without receiving funds in advance, while the Secretary to the Treasury has claimed there are no funds available for the elections even though Rs. 10 billion have been allocated for elections. 

The Government Printer has said that despite many requests the Police Department has not deployed police personnel to provide security for the ballot printing process and cited this as the “main reason” for the delay in printing the ballot papers for postal voting. This has led to the Elections Commission informing the Supreme Court that it cannot hold the Local Government polls on the scheduled date.

As a result, it is almost certain that elections will not be held on the 9 March as scheduled, or before 19 March 2023, as mandated by law. 

While noting the cowardice of the President and his Government to face the people in an election, our Union denounces their sordid attempts to undermine the constitution and subvert democracy.

It is objectionable that a President who was not elected by the people at an election is now trying to deny the people their fundamental right to elect their representatives. 

The only member of his Party to hold a seat in Parliament, through the bonus seat allocation, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed President by a majority of Members of Parliament, led by the SLPP – a political front that was bitterly opposed to him. 

Wickremesinghe had led the UNP to its worst defeat at the last election where his Party failed to gain a single elected seat. He himself had lost in his own constituency. The Union notes it is deplorable that our Constitution provides for such a distortion of the people’s sovereignty and makes a mockery of democracy.

President Wickremesinghe has also leveraged the full powers of the Executive Presidency to suppress any form of opposition to his Government and to deny the people of their fundamental right to engage in peaceful protests. Effectively, he has used his dictatorial powers to shut down virtually every avenue available to citizens to express our disapproval of the Government and its actions. 

Our Union does not believe the Local Authority elections will have any significant impact on the lives of the ordinary people facing the brunt of the economic crisis, who have seen their living standards drop precipitously. None of the political parties competing in these elections have clearly spelt out their plans to bring us out of our misery. 

In relation to the working people especially, none of them have specific proposals for a national minimum wage or for a Workers’ Charter that will strengthen the rights of workers to organise and engage in collective bargaining to improve their lives. 

Nevertheless, we firmly defend the constitutional right of our people to elect their representatives to local Government bodies or to cast their votes to register their strong opposition to those in power, as we are certain many voters would. 

This fundamental right cannot be taken away on the whims of a President merely because he fears he and his Government will be soundly defeated at the elections. If unchallenged, this will set a dangerous precedent for the President to put off any election by blatantly using public officials to withhold funds and the allocation of other resources to keep himself or any unpopular Government in power as long as he pleases. 

This is why the actions of the Government Printer, the Secretary to the Treasury and the Inspector General of Police must be seriously called into question. We fully endorse the statement of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) who have pointed out in their statement on this matter that “Articles 104 B (2) and 104 GG (1) of the Constitution make it clear that all state authorities are duty bound to cooperate with the Elections Commission and that refusing or failing to do so is a criminal offense punishable with imprisonment”. 

We stand with the BASL on their position that “all attempts to interfere with the electoral process must not only be defeated but all those responsible for such interference must be dealt within accordance with the law.” 

The CMU will join hands with all like-minded organisations in this effort to defend and uphold the sovereignty of the people.