Amendment to Local Authority Bill, the first move:

Major changes to election system soon

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The Parliament on Wednesday made its first move towards changing the current electoral system by unanimously endorsing the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill to make drastic changes in the Local Authorities election system, firstly repealing the so-called preferential votes system from Local Authorities elections as a precursor to other major changes.

It was after two and a half decades that the Parliament could make this successful move to repeal the preferential voting system from the Local Government election process. Law-makers and the public eagerly waited for changes in the present electoral process which everybody believes has made the political system in the country more appalling.

However, the two pieces of legislation - the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill and Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill - which were passed in Parliament on Wednesday, were not only meant to change the preferential votes system in Local Authorities elections, but also aimed at establishing new methods and practices in the Local Authorities, the political bodies which are closer to the people.

According to Secretary to the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils, R.A.A.K. Ranawaka, the two pieces of legislation unanimously passed in Parliament will not only introduce a new method of electing members to the Local Authorities by introducing a combination of ‘first past the post’ and proportionate representation systems, but also bring many other changes to the Local Authorities system.

“Under this combined method, 70 percent of members to Local Government bodies will be elected under the ‘first past the post’ system and the balance 30 percent will be elected under the ‘proportionate representation (PR) system’, Ranawaka said, explaining the amendments made to the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance.

However, he said the percentages will be subjected to changes in the future as political parties want 60 percent from the ‘first past the post’ system and 40 percent from the PR system.

Delimitation committees

“Under the new system, all Local Authorities will be divided into wards, based on the ethnic ratio of the Local Authority, geographical and physical features of the area, population, population density and level of economic development in the area”, he said.

To divide the Local Authorities’ areas into wards, the Act empowers the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils to appoint a National Delimitation Committee comprising five persons of which one would be the Chairman.

The mandate of the National Delimitation Committee is to make recommendations to the Minister for the division of each Local Authority area into wards according to the stipulated guidelines.

To assist the National Committee, the Minister is also empowered to appoint district level delimitation committees for each district which will be headed by the District Secretary as the Chairman of the Committee.

“This committee will comprise representatives from the Department of Elections, Provincial Ministry of the Local Government, Surveyor General's Department, Department of Census and Statistics and a public officer nominated by the Minister”, Ranawake said.

The committee will consider and observe the requirements of the Local Government on demarcating these wards according to the geography of the area, population and population density. These District Delimitation Committee recommendations would have to be reported to the National Delimitation Committee.

The National Delimitation Committee will supervise the activities of the District Committees and on the receipt of their recommendations, the National Committee, after careful consideration of those recommendations, will forward them to the Minister.

The National Committee will also consider establishing multi-member wards, considering ethnic, religious or other diversities in that area. “The National Delimitation Committee will consider that ward as a multi-member ward and accordingly, more than one member can be selected for the ward under the new system”, he said.

After the National Delimitation Committee completes its work, it will be forwarded to the Minister and then to the President as it is a national process.

“Thereafter, the Minister will gazette the names of the wards under each Local Authority area and the allocated number for the ward”, he said.

Time frame

The time frame for the completion of the process will depend on the activities of the National and District Delimitation Committees. “The idea is to complete the process at the earliest and to hold the next Local Government elections under the new system”, Ranawake added.

“With the completion of this system at the Local Authorities elections, people will get a councillor for their ward and they will have a member who is responsible for the particular ward in the Local Authority”, he explained.

“The advantage of this system is that members will perform their duties within a limited geographical area unlike in the past. It will also be advantageous to them at the elections as they have to focus their campaigning in a limited area”, he said.

The candidates would also be residents of the Local Government area.

“This will help minimise stiff competition even among members from the same political party as the preferential voting system is no longer there”, he said.

A member of a recognised political party or an independent candidate who obtained the highest number of votes from a ward will be elected to the Local Authority.

After electing members for each ward, the balance 30 percent will be elected under the PR system. “The PR system is introduced to give a chance to political parties or independent groups who have not been selected as councillors under the ‘first past the post’ system, even after obtaining more than five percent of the total votes from the ward”, he said.

“If these defeated political parties or independent groups have obtained more than five percent of the total votes from the respective wards, they will be eligible to elect members under the PR system”, he said.

“That gives a chance for defeated parties to get their representation at the Local Authority on the PR list”, he explained.

When calculating the total votes for the PR system, only those who were defeated after obtaining more than five percent of the total votes will be considered.

The number of members to be selected under the PR system will be decided by calculating the total votes they obtained from the wards. The votes obtained by the winning candidates will not be considered for the PR representation.

Additional list

In line with the new system, a political party or independent group would have to provide an additional list of nominations along with the nominations for each ward of the Local Authority.

“The selection of members under the PR system will be done according to the additional list of names submitted by the political parties and independent groups to returning officers when they are filing nominations. It is at the discretion of the Secretary of a recognised political party or the leader of the independent group to recommend the names to be appointed under this system”, he said.

Another provision in the new Bill is the representation of youth and women.

“It says at least 25 percent of the members to be nominated could be women and youth, but it is not compulsory. At the same time, there is a barrier to nominate 100 percent youth and women candidates under this system”, he said.

“Another prominent change under the amendment is the counting of votes at the polling station itself, which will be very simple”, he explained.

While the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill deals with the election of councillors, the Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill is aimed at changing the practices adopted by the Local Authorities and stipulates how Local Authorities should function.

“These amendments are also aimed at allowing the Chairman or Vice Chairman and Mayor or Deputy Mayor of the Local Authority to remain as a Council Member even after they lose or resign from their posts”, Ranawake said.

It also enables any council to continue their administration for two years from the date of its establishment even if the budget for the council is defeated twice.

Under the existing system, the Local Authority has to be dissolved if the budget for the council is defeated twice. After the initial two-year period, if the budget is defeated twice, the Mayor or Chairman of the Local Authority is deemed to have resigned from his/her office.

“I think these two pieces of legislation are sufficient to fulfil the aspirations of the people because they were expecting a change in the electoral system in the country for a long period. That is why all political parties unanimously approved these Bills and I think these two legislations made strong steps towards changing the election system in the country”, the Secretary remarked.

Highlights of the Bills

Salient features of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill and Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill:

* Proportionate Representation system to be replaced with a combination of ‘first past the post’ and proportionate representation system when electing members to Local Authorities.

* Preferential votes to be removed from the Local Authorities election system.

* Seventy percent of members to be elected under the ‘first past the post’ system and 30 percent from the PR system. (The percentage would be subjected to change).

* National and district level delimitation committees to be appointed to decide on the number of wards and to determine the boundaries of the wards for each Local Authority area.

* One member each to be elected for each ward under the 'first past the post system'.

* The votes of each defeated candidate who have obtained more than five percent of the total vote at each ward to be considered when allocating seats under the PR system.

* An additional list of nominations to be submitted for electing Members under the PR system.

* Counting of votes to be done at polling stations.

* Mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and deputy chairmen to retain their council member position despite their resignation or removal from the post.

* Local Authorities get the nod to continue despite the defeat of the budget twice at the Council within the first two years of establishment.

* The Mayor or Chairman to be considered as resigned from his post once the budget submitted to the Council is defeated twice after the two-year period.