Local Government elections:

The current scenario

By Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

Local Government election fever is gradually and steadily hotting up in all parts of the country with barely a month away for the grand day where the present rulers expect to consolidate their position and the people in opposition camp strive hard to attain power and set up new local government bodies.

Local Government bodies had been in existence even prior to the independence in the country and they were known as Village Councils, Town Councils, Urban Councils and Municipal Councils. Urban Councils and Municipal Councils still operate under the same names but with wider powers vested in them with the introduction of the 13th Amendment to the constitution in 1987. VCs and TCs were done away with the introduction of the 13th Amendment and replaced with 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 Sabha area is covered by a Divisional Secretary, a SLAS officer appointed by the Central Government.

Prior to 1987 the formation of these local bodies was quite deferent. All local bodies had a Ward System, From Municipal Council down to Village Councils, all had a set of Wards which were represented by party members and sometimes by independent individuals. Any local body which wins the majority number of members from one party elect its Chairman and take over the administration for a specified period of four years.

During those olden days, the whole election process of the local bodies was very simple and there were hardly any election related violence reported. Candidates from different political parties and independent individuals contested every ward in the local bodies and whoever who gets the majority number of votes gets elected as the member of the ward. The party which secure the majority number of members elects the Chairman. There had been occasions in the past where the single independent member was elected as the Chairman of some village councils with the support of majority party members.

Unlike the present day when the elections are announced and nominations called for, the provincial party leaders nominate their candidates for every ward in their respective councils and they virtually nominate the Chairman of the council also to lead the election campaign. So the struggle for the chairman post didn’t arise those days very much except in few occasions.

Every ward of the council had a separate polling station and even the counting of votes was done at the same place by the Presiding Officer in the presence of candidates and declares the official results before darkness falls.

During those early days only the people with standing calibre and respectable backgrounds who commnded the respect of the area people, took part in local politics with the pure intention of discharging an honourable service. There had been instances in the past where some ward members were elected uncontested and became the Chairmen of the Village Councils. Local bodies were the breeding ground of promising politicians in the past in this country. Statesmen like S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, J. R. Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa rose to the zenith of the political career starting their political life as Ward Members of Colombo Municipal Council. In addition to the above there was a large number of Senior Ministers who read ABC in politics as Village Council members in their respective areas and who rendered an invaluable service to the country at latter stages of their political careers.

During those olden days no regular monthly salary was paid to the Council Members or to the Chairmen, but a nominal fee for every sitting in the council.

Pradeshiya Sabhas

However, with the passage of time lots of changes took place and specially with the introduction of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Pradeshiya Sabhas came into being replacing VCs and TCs and local Authority Elections Act was also changed and 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 elections in March 2011 would be the fifth occasion when the elections are conducted under this system.

Quite apart from those by gone days politics have now become a lucrative profession and all parties are equally interested in winning the election by any means to establish their political empires provincially. Candidates are even more anxious to attain power and resort to every mean tactic since they are sure of enjoying the perks, power and privileges when they are elected as members.

Rejected nominations

Rejection of Nomination lists submitted by political parties and Independent groups is not a new phenomenon in the election history of Sri Lanka after the new preferential voting system was introduced by the 13th Amendment to the constitution for the local Government elections. But most unfortunately it had happened in an unprecedented scale this year with the rejection of over 75 nominations lists submitted by major political parties and independent groups. Now both major parties are seeking legal redress for their rejections which is very unlikely to attain their desired ends. If they had properly scrutinized the nomination papers before submitting to the returning officers this unfortunate situation could have been avoided.

However, now it is quite evident that both the major parties, UPFA and UNP and communally based parties such as SLMC and TNA have already launched their local election campaign to woo the support of the masses for their camps.

Strategy of minor parties

SLMC is contesting in certain areas of the country under its symbol and for some other bodies SLMC is contesting with the UPFA. It had been the practice of minor parties to join one of the main parties to contest polls in order to get a certain percentage of members for them. There are nearly twenty parties which have joined the UPFA this year to contest local polls. JVP is the only other party which contests Local Government Elections 2011 without entering into an alliance with any of the major parties.

In the meantime some political parties tried to persuade the government to postpone the election due to the adverse climatic conditions which prevailed in the county during the last two months causing havoc over certain districts with severe inundations, However, elections department is quite confident of holding the election uninterrupted since the weather has improved at present.

The run-up to the election campaign began with the promulgation of allotted numbers to the candidates and now it is becoming hotter and hotter in some parts of the country with only a less than a month to go for the crucial day. A few election related violence have been reported already and invariably there will be attacks, counter attacks and numerous conflicts when the campaign is at its peak within the next few weeks.

Government stance

UPFA is extremely confident of winning the local government elections 2011 due to a number of reasons. Their main argument is that the people are now enjoying the real freedom after the protracted war which ravaged the country for over 30 years. The United National Party is in a mess with its leadership struggle and no proper program of work has been put forward by the party to attract the masses to their fold. Further when the UPFA is the governing party and also the provincial councils are dominated by them and the support of the entire minority communities are also with the government, how can the UNP win any of the local bodies? is the argument of UPFA stalwarts.

Besides, the government has already fulfilled a number of its previous election pledges and taken steps to improve the living standards of the people according to the Central Bank figures in respect of per capita income and the increased development growth rate of the country during the last two years.

UNP claims

The United National Party has got a new lease of life after their annual convention held two months back. At present the UNP platform has become vociferous and openly challenges the government over the forthcoming Local Government elections. The UNP also suffered the rejection of their nomination lists for some councils but comparatively it was very much less than what Government party suffered. Therefore the UNP stalwarts are of the strong belief and claim that they are already ahead its rivals in the fray.

The UNP platform is very critical of the Government for not appointing the Independent Commissions, very high cost of living, violation of human rights and media freedom, non availability of essential food items and the unprecedented degree of corruption taking place in all so called development projects and the failure of the government to address the grievances of the IDPs in time and further inability to look after the welfare of floods stricken victims in 17 districts. UNP has spearheaded the election campaign mainly based on the above allegations against the government and they are quite confident of convincing the people and win a majority number of Local Government bodies at the forthcoming elections.