Delimitation of electorates yet to commence:

Elections under a new system, remote - Elections Commissioner

By Manjula Fernando

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya says holding elections under a caretaker government is the dream of every Elections Commission in the world.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer, the Elections Chief who is currently in the limelight because of the praise showered on him after the recent presidential election which saw a powerful Executive President being unseated said the chances of holding the forthcoming general election under a new system was remote since the delimitation of electorates are yet to commence.

“In some countries the law prohibits changes to the Election Law, one year ahead of an election.The reason being, the advantage it could give the ruling party's election campaign,” he added.

Q: Electoral reforms are in the offing. the new Government has pledged a change of system within their 100- day program. Any conclusions as to the best electoral system for Sri Lanka ?

According what I feel, if you dissolve parliament in April and go for an election. We have to hold the election under the existing system which involves the PR and preferential system. To go for reforms the delimitation process has to be completed.

The most recent proposals of electoral reforms came from the committee chaired by former Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

According to that 140 seats will be selected from first past the post system, 70 members will be chosen under proportional representation and 15 members will be from the national list.

For that we must have a delimitation committee. But if the system must change before next election, a delimitation committee will have to work long hours, may be 12-16 hours minimum a day. Then I think within two months the process could be wrapped up.

Q: Haven't we started work on delimitation of electorates?

No. We have 160 polling divisions plus eight more. In Colombo central there are three divisons, Nuwara Eliya and Muskeliya another three and two more covering Beruwala, Harispattuwa, Batticaloa and Pothuwil.

With this eight, 168 polling divisions altogether.Reducing this to 140 is not an easy task. For delimitation, we have to consider the population as well as the Geographical area. Like what happened in Uva.

If we are going to consider only the population Gampaha will get the maximum number of members and Trincomalee or Vanni will get the least number of members. But geographically, the Vanni is a large electorate. Therefore it is going to be a tedious task.

Q: Everyone is for scrapping the preferential system which is the root cause for in-party rivalry and poll violence. Will this be done away with in the future ?

Everyone is worried about the ‘manapa poraya’, people prefer doing away with the preferential system. Therefore, the best method is the PR system.

But the voters prefer a member of parliament for their own area, to facilitate development and to offer jobs. I feel such things should be the responsibility of local government bodies and provincial councils. Parliamentarians must be policy makers.

This mentality will change in the near future. The new generation will reject parliamentarians who will only distribute money, tents or chairs to societies. I meet many delegations representing the young members of the society and their opinions are very impressive.

Q: There is a wide discussion about bringing in a mix of PR and the first past the post systems ?

I expect everyone will endorse, a mix of first past the post and PR system. The ratio to select the members under these two systems, is however a matter of contention still.

According to Dinesh Gunawardena Committee, the ratio proposed is 2:1.

But according to the new 2013 Local Government's Act, the ratio for first past the post and PR is 7:3. Alternative proposal for the Dinesh Gunawardena Committee report, prepared by MP Muttu Sivalingam and Minister Rauff Hakeem, suggests the ratio as 1:1.

That is 110 seats for first past the post system, 110 seats for PR system and five from national list.

There are a lot of proposals. A report by two engineers, submitted

on behalf of MP Dullas Alahapperuma about 15 years ago proposes to retain PR without the preferential votes. It suggests to elect 196 members under the PR system plus 29 from the national list. But instead of preferences they have suggested considering the percentage of votes.

Whatever the electoral process, the Elections Department and the staff are ready to conduct the election. We are not worried about the system. We cannot have our prejudices.

Q: As an Election Department employee with 30 years of experience, can you say as to what the best electoral system for a country like Sri Lanka?

I am for the PR system only. That is my personal view. Proportional Representation is the best and most democratic system if the political parties faced the preferential fight more professionally.

It is the best system to select your own member to the parliament. It gives us a lot of benefits but like electricity it can be dangerous if you use it recklessly.

Sri Lankan voters cannot veer off from the electorate mentality yet.

They still hold the nortion, ‘my home town and my village needs a member of parliament to represent our interests'. May be this is fine for certain places, where sub-cultures exist or where people speaking a different language or having a different religion exist. But I don't see why Biyagama and Mahara or Hiniduma and Baddegama needing different MPs.

Since there is an issue of infighting and rivalry, we may have to scrap preferences. Then that leaves us with a mix system.

Q: What could be the ratio between PR and first past the post system in a mix system ?

The decision with regard to the ratio is a stumbling block. We have not reached a final decision on this yet. There are different proposals. The minority parties have suggested a 1:1 ratio. The biggest constraint is the current number of members which is 225.

There is reluctance to exceed this number. I think the number of MPs were decided at 225, in 1980. It has been 35 years now.

We must raise this up to at least 250, on par with the population increase.

If we adopt a 1:1 ratio with the current 225 members, then the maximum number of members selected under first past the post system will be 110. How can we reduce the present 160 members that we select under this system to 110? That is very difficult. The ratio 2:1 is also not realistic. What we have to do is compromise between 1:1 and 2:1. It could be something like 4:3.

This is my view as a long service staffer of the Elections Department, not as the Elections Commissioner.

Q: The Proportional Representation will be under district level, Provincial level or national level?

It will be under electoral district level. There is consensus on that in all the reports of reforms received by the Elections Department. We have 22 electoral districts.

Q: The Government has said that the electoral reforms will be brought in before the next general election ?

There is heightened interest among people on electoral reform. The enactment can be passed within the 100 days program of the government. But the date of implementation may not be soon after. In some countries the law prohibits changes to election law, one year ahead of an election.

The reason being, the advantage it could give the ruling party's election campaign. At present everyone is preparing for the election and the politicians are preparing their election strategies for the current system. If there is a change, it will benefit the parties in power who will implement the new system.

Q: Can we propose a caretaker government during elections in the future ?

If we can do that everyone will be happy. Elections Commissioners all over the world will be happy if elections can be held under a caretaker government. In Bangladesh there was a law but it has now been changed. In Pakistan, a caretaker government is in place during elections.

In India and Nepal, they have a similar system but it is not a 100 percent caretaker government. In Sri Lanka also we had such a system earlier. The Secretaries and others used to run the show. But today if Parliament is dissolved, ministers will be there. They can misuse state resources.

I have studied the Indian system. Even after a dissolution of parliament and during elections, they conduct Cabinet meetings. If a minister from Tamil Nadu, wishes to travel to New Delhi, after dissolving parliament, he has to pay for his air ticket.

But he may use the railway warrant. The official vehicle can be used to his quarters and the cabinet office only. He could not go in that to the airport, for that he has to use a hired cab or a private vehicle. There is a code of conduct during an election phase.

We too have a code of conduct but it is yet to become the law.

Q:To reduce election costs, is it possible to hold multiple elections, like Parliamentary and provincial council elections together?

We can have two elections in one day. But it will not be an easy task to educate the people on a new voting process. There will be confusion even if we issue two separate ballot papers. But I agree, that if we can have two elections in one day, costs can be brought down drastically.

It will be a possibility to have elections on two days, may be with a lapse of one or two days. That way the same network and resources can be used. Costs would come down.

In 1983, we had a local government election and a bi-election conducted close on the heels of the other.

The total cost on the last Presidential election was Rs.3000 million and we have estimated the General election would cost Rs.3500 million. If we can change this political culture, we could save more money.

Presently we need additional staff for polling stations and additional staff for counting centres. If the number of political parties contesting the Presidential election can be restricted to three or four, that way also we could save money. Higher the number of political parties, the longer the ballot paper gets. This requires additional ballot boxes and additional staff.

Out of 18 candidates at the 2015 Presidential election more than ten were proxy candidates. This is a crime. We have to do something about it. One option is to raise the nomination deposit.

There must also be a system to claim money from candidates in instances of removal of illegal propaganda material. We have to deploy police and election officers on vehicle squads. Millions of rupees are spent on that during every election.

Q: Can we also have a law like in the United States that will require candidates and political parties to reveal their funding sources?

Yes that is something those who propose electoral reforms must look into. In the Indian Elections Act there is an expenditure ceiling, in addition to laws compelling them to reveal where funding came from. Big companies can officially donate money to political parties subject to certain restrictions.

They have a transparent system where such donations should be listed.After the Uva provincial council an elections committee was appointed to make recommendations to modify the election laws and it has been meeting for the past three months.

It is represented by all active political parties and these representatives are qualified lawyers.