20A

Electoral reforms following the passage of the 20th Amendment are being discussed at different lobbies and parleys in view of its suitability and the eventual effects on the political scene and on the country. Here, party leaders and their spokesmen express diverse views on the 20A and the subsequent General Elections.

UNPers are playing 'political football' - Dilan Perera :

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

SLFP Media Spokesman MP Dilan Perera said that the UNP's 225 member is a deadlocked proposal and they are playing 'political football' with the 20th Amendment. MP Perera said that the UNP wants the preferential system to continue and are offering various excuses.

Q: There is a huge debate on the 20th Amendment among people and political parties. Should the proposed amendment be passed prior to the dissolution of Parliament or should it be taken up by a future Government ?

A: Certainly, the 20th Amendment should be taken up by this Parliament. During the last Presidential Election, two main Presidential candidates Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa promised the people that they will put an end to the preferential voting system.

It will be difficult to get nonpartisan support to pass the 20th Amenment after the next election. At present the governing party has only 40 odd-members and the Opposition has 137 members.

The Opposition says they would support the 20th Amendment if the government brings it. If the UNP can give 13 more votes, the 20th Amendment can be passed. Nearly 6.1 million people who voted for Maithripala Sirisena and 5.8 million people who voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to change the present electoral system.

Q: The 20th Amendment is widely talked about but no finality has been reached with regard to many of its points and indeed there is no final draft. Do you feel the need for a wider discourse on the 20th Amendment and for expediting the process ?

A: This issue has been partly solved because the 20th Amendment has been gazetted now. It's gazette notification will be published soon. After that it will come into the agenda paper in Parliament.

During a period of seven days, the people can to go to the Supreme Court if they are going to challenge the draft. After that parliament can debate it. When the debate is going on, we can bring various amendments at the committee stage if necessary.

After passing the 20th Amendment and the electoral seats are demarcated by the Delimitation Commission , even the next General Election can be held under the new system.

Q: The UNP has apparently agreed on a 237 member Parliament, which is a departure from their earlier stance of only 225 MPs. Do you still want to increase this number or is the UNP's proposal acceptable ? Is it acceptable to reduce the number of electorates ?

A: Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella said that they are opposed to 237 members and they are only for 225. This 237 is not a UNP proposal. It is a proposal submitted to the Cabinet by President Maithripala Sirisena. The UNP said yes to 237 in the Cabinet and came out and said they only want 225.

The SLFP position is that, we need 255. The people are against increasing the members of the Cabinet, but they want a Member of Parliament for their electorate.

The UNP is playing 'political football' with the 20th Amendment and they want the preferential system to go on. They are bringing various excuses without saying that to the people. The UNP's 225 member proposal is a deadlocked proposal.

Q: There is a notion that the 20th Amendment and the proposed new electoral system would not be fair to the minority parties. Do you agree with this view ?

A: The original proposal by Dinesh Gunawardena committee was somewhat discriminatory against the minorities. The present proposal is a unique proposal where the proportional representation is hundred percent intact and the preferential system is taken off. The present proposal is fair to everybody and there is no discrimination against minority parties.

Q: There are allegations that many parties are not keen about the 20th Amendment. What is your comment ?

A: Definitely the UNP is not keen. SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem is also playing a double game.

Hakeem in the Cabinet was opposed to 225-member draft proposal and derailed the entire 255- member proposal which was paving the way for more minority people to come into parliament. Now being out of Cabinet he is talking about double ballot papers and various other issues. Except Premier Wickremesinghe, Rauff Hakeem and Dinesh Gunawardena, all other parties are in favour of the 20th Amendment.

Q: Don't you think the National List MPs are a burden to the country. What contribution could they make due to lack of expertise as most of them are mere political stooges?

A: I feel the MPs should be nationalists but not racists. In today's society, racists are labelled as nationalists. Separatist elements like Prabhakaran were Eelamists, not nationalists. Other racist elements who only want to label themselves as nationalists are Sinhala Eelamists and they also want to divide the country.

But true nationalists are the people who are talking about national unity. We need National List MPs, but not Prabhakaran style of Sinhala or Muslim racist nationalists.

New electoral system must be acceptable to majority parties - Kabir Hashim

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

The United National Party (UNP) wants an electoral system that is acceptable to a majority of political parties but not at the expense of increasing the number of parliamentarians, UNP General Secretary and Minister of Highways and Investment Promotion, Kabir Hashim, said.

Q: What is the stance of the Party with regard to the 20th Amendment?

A: We look forward to a mixed electoral system where a majority of the parties agree. We do have our reservations of certain factors. This country wants a change in the system but not an increase in the number of Members of Parliament. Sri Lanka has the highest number of parliamentarians compared to the population. Additionally we have over 4000

Provincial Councillors, over 400 members in Local Government entities and over 2000 Pradeshiya Sabha members. Majority of the public do not want an increase. Country cannot afford this much of numbers.

The UNP was one of the main parties who supported in 2002 under the Dinesh Gunawardane Committee to make electoral reforms. Since then we have mainiatained one stand on the 225 MPs and we are not willing to increase that number. At the recent working Committee it was unanimously decided that we will not propose any increase in the number of seats in Parliament.

Q: Other parties, mainly the Opposition complain that the UNP is delaying the agreement on 20th Amendment. What is your response?

A: These parties have suddenly woken up to talk about the twentieth amendment. Some of these parties have been in power for the past 20 years and the 20th Amendment was the furthest from their mind, even if they had enough and more power in the parliament.

They, mostly the opposition parties, are interested in causing damage to the Government. These are people with vested interest and want to see an end to good governance.

These people who complain promoted corruption in the country and were surviving on it. At the moment they would do anything to bring down the Government even by using the 20th Amendment.

Today they have brought a No Confidence Motion against the Government and how can we trust them? We have asked them consistently to withdraw the No Confidence Motion but they have not done so. The UNP with the largest vote base in the country will not bow down to these parties.

Our commitments to establish Good Governance will not succumb to selfish motives.

Q: Is there a disagreement within the UNP?

A: Absolutely no. The entire UNP speaks in one voice. Decisions will be made by the Working Committee.

Q: Will this delay the elections?

A: The elections are delayed by certain other hidden forces. But the blame is on the UNP. The Working Committee categorically said we need an election.

Q: On what grounds do you make this comment?

A: There are political parties who are not interested in bringing the 20th Amendment. They have brought a No Confidence Motion on top of the need to agree on the Amendment.

How can we trust their motive in a debate? Even if the Amendment is passed, implementing the changes in electoral reforms in a short time does not seem possible. Concerns of the minority parties need to

be considered. The new electoral systems need to be mapped through a commission ensuring that all are fairly represented. This is a tedious process. If someone is in a mighty hurry to implement the new system it will create a huge problem for the future of the country.

When a country introduces an electoral system it takes considerable time. At least one year for the people to understand it and properly implement. This should not be a ploy to postpone elections.

Fair minority representation should be ensured - M. Sumanthiran

by P. Krishnaswamy

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) opposes the proposed 20th Amendment in its current form as there is no certainty that it will provide equitable representation to the minorities, said TNA frontliner, M. Sumanthiran.

Q: What is TNA's stance on the proposed 20th Amendment to the constitution?

A: The TNA is one among the other minority political parties and minor parties that are opposed to the proposed 20th Amendment to the constitution for reasons that it is not very clear whether or not the system will facilitate an equitable representation of the minorities. Although it is being said that it is a combination of the PR and the First-Past-the-Post systems, the TNA is not certain even on that.

The TNA's stand is that if the forthcoming parliamentary elections are to be held under the present PR system, it may not be necessary to pass the 20th Amendment hurriedly but instead it can be discussed at the new parliament.

Q: The Opposition had openly accused that the June 8 London meeting with the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and representatives of the Tamil Diaspora groups, participated by you, on behalf of the TNA and the government delegation led by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was held clandestinely . Even a leader of a TNA constituent had said that he was not aware of it. Your comments?

A: There was no secret about the London meeting and I participated in it on the request of party leader R.Sampanthan. The fact is that we did not want to give any advance publicity to it for obvious reasons. But after the talks the TNA issued a media release explaining everything.

The talks, in fact, were centered on the welfare of the Tamils of the North and the East,their resettlement, the plans for their future, the release of lands under the occupation of the government security forces and the release of the political prisoners.

The idea was obtaining the assistance and cooperation of the Diaspora groups. We did not give much publicity taking intoconsideration the likely reactions of some politicians in the North and the East and those of the South.

This meeting was also part of the TNA's and its leader R.Sampanthan's program to get a solution to the Tamils' problem under the goodwill gesture of the incumbent government, section of the politicians of the North, East and of the South do not like the Tamils' getting a political solution to their problems. Ironically former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and some of the others in his inner circle have stated that the government is holding secret talks with the LTTE.

Q: Does the TNA have plans to contest the general elections in alliance with any of the major national parties of the South? Are you also fielding candidates in any of the constituencies in the South?

A: No such plans. As in the previous elections the TNA, the four party alliance, will go it alone and contest on the 'house' symbol. We will field candidates in all constituencies in the North and East.

We are also thinking about fielding candidates in some constituencies in the Gampaha

district as well. The TNA has not been registered as a political party until now and, as such, will contest in the name of one of its registered constituents, the Ilanka Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), as in the previous elections.

Q: When will the election manifesto of the party be released and are there any major changes ?

A: The party's manifesto is now under preparation and will be released soon. There will be no major changes other than the party stance on resettlement of the displaced people, release of the political prisoners and their lands.

Q: Speculations have been rife that there have been contention among leaders of constituent parties over nominating candidates to the different constituencies. Your comments on it please?

A: There have been no issues over fielding of candidates to different constituencies. The question of whom to field to which constituency will be decided in consultation with the four constituent parties - ITAK, EPRLF,

TELO and PLOTE. As of now there are no contentious issues on nominating candidates to the different constituencies and if any differences of views arise, it will be sorted out by the party leadership and the executive committee.

We are against the 20A in its present form -Hasan Ali

by P. Krishnaswamy

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) is demanding the gazette notification on the proposed 20th Amendment be withdrawn forthwith and will campaign against it, in its current form, party General Secretary M.T.Hasan Ali said.

Q: Does the SLMC have any plans to contest the upcoming general elections in alliance with any of the major national parties?

A: We have not decided on it or have held discussions on it because the elections have not been declared as yet. Furthermore, no major political party has extended any invitation to us on forming an alliance. When the date of the elections is declared and if such an invitation is extended the party High Command (HC) will take decisions on it.

Q: In case you decide to go it alone, which constituencies that you will concentrate upon to field candidates?

A: We will field candidates in all Muslim predominant constituencies in the East and in other parts of the country.

Q: Has there been any changes as of late in the SLMC's stand on the 20th Amendment to the constitution?

A: We are opposed to the proposals, in its present form, on the 20th Amendment to the constitution.

Our stance is the same as that of the minor parties and minority parties. It is a collective decision. We have also issued a statement on it.

We have requested the government to withdraw the gazette notification which has already been issued on proposals on the 20thAmendment in its present form. If the gazette notification is not withdrawn and it goes to the Order Paper of parliament, we will have no alternative other than seeking legal remedy in the Supreme Court which we will do.

Q: Are you getting ready with the election manifesto and what will be the areas of your main focus?

A: We have not started preparing the election manifesto so far. We will focus on it only after the elections are declared. The major focus will be on what has been the unchanged party policy since the time of the party founder-leader M.H.M.Ashraff on equal rights of the Muslims, theirequitable representation in the parliament in proportionate with their 10 percent composition of the country's population and their democratic rights politically and socially.

Q: Have there been some dissent in the party hierarchy and will the party have problems in appeasing some of its leaders while nominating candidates to contest the different constituencies?

A: No there has been no such thing within the party and if any situation arises the party HC will taken a final decision and all will have to abide by that.