Uncertainty over PC polls

Whenever a Government gets into the habit of appointing commissions and committees, the public can rest assured that nothing will come out of them. Commissions and committees are used to buy time and pussyfoot around issues, and finally when a report is presented, it is either tabled in parliament or put away somewhere to be soon forgotten.

Since taking office, the NPP too has caught onto the commission- and committee-appointing practice, and while reports have been presented in some cases, few have been made public, while some are pending, like the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to look into the drawing up of an electoral system for Provincial Councils.

The PSC, headed by Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath, was appointed in February and now faces an uncertain future after opposition members of the Committee announced their resignation in protest against the extension of the time frame given to it until December 2026.

ITAK MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, who had attended the last committee meeting a week ago, strongly objected to the move to extend the term of the PSC and walked out in protest, following which the two SJB MPs on the Committee, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Mano Ganeshan, also announced they are quitting the committee.

The Government, for its part, says it wants to hold the PC polls soon and needs the cooperation of the opposition to conclude the work of the PSC, but going by the pace of work of the PSC in the past eight months or so, the PC polls are likely to be postponed well into next year.

The last PC election was held in 2014, and since the introduction of a new PC Election Act in 2017 to change the system of voting as well as draw up new wards within the PCs to elect members, elections have been postponed continuously. A delimitation committee was appointed, and while a report was presented, there was no agreement on how the new system should be implemented, leading to years of delay.

One school of thought on how to overcome the impasse is to revert to the original PC Election Act (1988) so that the PC polls can be held within a short time, and once the PC gets functioning, finalise the implementation of the 2017 PC poll legislation so that it can be effective thereafter.

For the NPP too, this is the most viable option. Even if the Committee submits a report, it will be months or even years of wrangling over delimitation and other related issues, which means it will be more time spent going around in circles once again. This could go on for one, two, or even three years, by which time national elections are due. On the face of it, it seems the Government may be hesitant to hold the PC elections, fearing that if it fares poorly, it will undermine its authority in Government for the remainder of its term.

The call to hold the PC polls without delay is not only from among opposition political parties and civil society groups. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who was in Sri Lanka in August, called upon the Government to deliver on its commitment to hold Provincial Council elections at the earliest, while the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) also called for early PC polls.

The Government, for its part, is non-committal, with some in Government stating that it lacks funds to hold the PC poll, while others say that the reason is the PC Election Act itself has become a hurdle. Whatever the reason may be, postponing polls cannot be done indefinitely, and the sooner the PC polls are held, the better.