Local Government elections, then and now
By Jaliya WIJEYEKOON
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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