Minority parties to ask for time

by P. Krishnaswamy

Amidst reports that President Maithripala Sirisena is to present the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution tomorrow, Monday, to representatives of political parties and then to Cabinet on May 19 for approval, the assembly of minor parties and minority parties decided Friday at their Water's Edge meeting to urge the Government not to go ahead with it hastily but instead give them more time for further deliberations.

Need time

This decision was taken with the presence of representatives of politically-oriented and ideologically-oriented political parties and political groups numbering over 25 who unanimously decided Friday, followed by a series of deliberations and meetings in the previous weeks, that they will need time to recommend amendments to the proposal so that adequate representation of the minorities and minor parties would be ensured, NSSP politbureau member V.Thirunavukkarasu who attended the meeting told the Sunday Observer.

Rational representation

They also decided to request the Government to hold the forthcoming parliamentary and local government elections under the existing Proportional Representation system (PR) which, they found in experience, ensures their equitable and rational representation, Thirunavukkarasu said.

They studied the various aspects of the proposed electoral reform under the new formula of a combined First-Past-the-Post (FPP) and the Proportional Representation (PR) systems and strongly felt that this system would not address the concerns of the minorities and minor parties unless further amendments, including a 50:50 representation to them both under the FPP and PR and a geographically and ethnic-concentration-based delimitation, were incorporated into it. They have also insisted on substantial increase of the number of multiple-member constituencies, the sources said.

Uncertainty

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Up Country People's Front (UPF), National Union of Workers (NUW) which represent the geographically dispersed Muslims and the Indian origin plantation community expressed uncertainty on whether or not their communities will get, under the proposed system, the same quantum of representation as under the current system, the sources said.

The Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Communist Party of Ceylon (CP) and Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) which are mainly political parties of the majority community also endorsed these views, the sources said.