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Local Government elections, then and now

Local government bodies had been in existence in Sri Lanka from colonial days. They were known as Village Councils (VC), Town Councils (TC), Urban Councils and Municipal Councils. Urban Councils and Municipal Councils still operate under the same names, but with much wider powers with the introduction of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1987. VCs and TCs were done away with the introduction of 13th Amendment and replaced by Pradeshiya Sabhas. The administrative areas were re-demarcated based on the population, strength of the economy and number of Grama Niladhari divisions and every Pradeshiya Sabhas is covered by an Additional Divisional Secretary.

Prior to 1987, the formation of these local bodies was quite different. All local bodies had a ward system. From municipal councils down to village councils, all local bodies had a set of wards which were represented by party members.

Any local body which wins the majority number of ward members from one party elect their chairman and takes over the administration of the council for a specified period of four years.

Local bodies were the breeding ground of promising politicians in the past in this country. J.R. Jayewardene, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Ranasinghe Premadasa rose to the zenith of the political career, representing their parties, having started their political career as ward members of the Colombo Municipal Council.

There were a number of senior legislators such as Dr. N.M. Perera, A. E. Goonesinghe, Peter Keuneman, Ashoka Karunaratne, M.D. Bandu and P.C. Imbulana who started their political career as local body members from their respective areas.

All of them were seasoned politicians who rendered invaluable service, not only to their areas, but also to the entire country during the latter stages of their political careers.

During the olden days, no regular payment or gratis was made to these ward members; instead, a nominal fee was paid to them for every sitting. It was considered an honourable job carried out by these members who commanded the respect of the public of the area.

Introduction of Pradeshiya Sabhas

However, with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Pradeshiya Sabhas were introduced replacing VCs and TCs, and the Local Authority Elections Act was also changed. It was further amended by Act. No. 25 of 1990.

Elections for Local Bodies were held under the new system for the first time in 1991 and the elections in March 2011 would be the fifth occasion when the elections are conducted under this system.

Unlike in the early days, politics has now become a lucrative profession and all parties are equally interested in winning, the elections by any means, to establish their political empires.

The candidates are even more anxious to attain power and resort to any mean tactics since they are sure of enjoying the perks, power and privileges once they are elected as members.

The election process has also become extremely complicated, from the time of preparing nomination papers right up to the time of issuing official results by the returning officers.

It had been recorded at previous Local Government elections that there had been different types of discrepancies with regard to the preparation of nomination papers by political parties, which had resulted in the rejection of their nomination lists.

Most unfortunately, this had happened on an unprecedented scale this year, with the rejection of 39 government party nomination lists, seven UNP lists, two JVP four SLMC and a large number of nomination lists.

Submitted by various minority parties and independent groups. The nomination papers submitted by both main parties for the Embilipitiya Urban Council had been rejected by the returning officer due to technical errors in the nomination papers of both groups.

The UPFA, UNP and some other groups are trying to seek legal redress with regard to their rejected lists, but are unlikely to achieve the desired ends.

There are a number of qualifications, statutory requirements and some provisions for a person to be a candidate under a registered political party.

The party organiser in the area has to see to the conformity of all candidates of his or her area before submitting the lists to the returning officers.

Some political parties even appoint legal experts to scrutinise the nomination lists. The candidates are chosen after they are interviewed by a panel appointed by the party hierarchy.

Despite all preparations, the nomination papers of many parties are rejected due to various lapses. There are minute details which have to be carefully scrutinised by the party secretaries or authorised officers before submitting their lists to the returning officers.

The following are the basic requirements to be fulfilled by a candidate under a registered political party who wishes to contest the election for any of the local bodies.

I. He or she should be a person residing in the same area for a period of not less than three years and his or her name should appear in the electoral register.

II. He or she should be a person over 18 years of age as at June 30 of the preceding year.

III. He or she should not be a person who had been convicted for any offence and served a jail term of over three months.

IV. He or she should not be a person who has been diagnosed by a physician as an insane person.

V. If the candidature aspirant is a government servant he or she has to resign from post held before the nomination papers are signed.

VI. There should be a representation of 40 percent of young candidates for every local body and the birth certificates of candidates below the age of 35 years should be certified and attached to the nomination papers.

VII. These certificates should be duly signed and attested by a Justice of the Peace indicating the date and place of signing.

VIII. The registered name of the parties should be correctly indicated in the nomination papers.

The duty of the party secretary, group leader or the authorised officer is to scrutinize their nomination papers and see whether all requirements are met and whether the nomination list is accurate.

Even if there is a slight difference or discrepancy in name written on the nomination papers as against the birth Certificate of a young candidate, the returning officer has the full authority to reject their entire list of nominations. The rule equally applies to independent groups.

2011 elections

Recently we witnessed an unprecedented number of rejections of nomination papers of all major parties and independent groups. They were attributed to the carelessness of the officers who were authorised to prepare the nomination papers. Some persons now come out with lame excuses and try to challenge the verdict of the returning officers, but if they had properly followed the guidelines laid down in the Local Authorities Elections Act before perfecting the nomination papers, this unfortunate situation could have been avoided.

Campaign begins

The run-up to the elections campaign began with the promulgation of allotted numbers to the candidates last Wednesday.

All major parties have already started their propaganda work. The UPFA, UNP, JVP and some minor parties have already convened press conferences and outlined their 'themes' on how they expect to spearhead the election campaign to achieve victory.

Most candidates from the two major parties have already started their poster campaigns, and have installed cutouts and hoardings in their areas.

Some of the posters call on the voters to cast all three preferences for the same person.

Local Government elections are the only election where all three preferences could be marked for one candidate.

We have experienced many conflicts during elections in the past, not only with rival political groups, but among the same party members due to the preferential voting system.

Even during the forthcoming election, the possibility of scuffles taking place cannot be ruled out once the election campaign is at its peak.

Ballot paper

Casting the vote for a person of one's choice in a particular party is itself a complicated process for an illiterate voter, because there should be four crosses marked on the ballot paper to fully effect the party vote and preference.

Three preferences could be marked, either on one candidate, two candidates or three candidates or the voter could refrain from marking preference for any candidate.

It had been reported in previous elections that the number of spoilt votes is sometimes over five percent of the total votes cast which is very unhealthy for the democratic form of government.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of all candidates to educate their voters as to how they should cast their vote.

 

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