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President awaits Delimitation Committee report to decide on electoral system for LG polls
President Maithripala Sirisena has called for a detailed report from the Delimitation Committee (DC) before deciding on the electoral system for the upcoming Local Govt. (LG) polls should be held, a deputy minister said. This follows complaints from political parties as they do not agree on the demarcation of Wards because it benefits certain parties.
“There are certain issues in the report some parties are objecting to, hence it will be gazetted after consultations with President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremasinghe, Deputy Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government, Karunarathna Paranawithana told the Sunday Times.
He said they can sort out these issues through a “Grievance Committee” which will be appointed after it is gazetted.
Noting that the LG elections Act was passed in the Parliament in 2012, Deputy Minister said the upcoming polls will be held under the new electoral system of First-Past-the-Post (FPP), with shortcomings sorted out through amendments.
The move comes after the United National Party’s (UNP) Working Committee this week decided to call upon the President to hold the next LG elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, under which the last LG polls were conducted.
The party also proposed to allocate a 20% female representation within all the Councils too.
Most of the local bodies’ terms expired in March and April this year. From July 31 this year, the official term of 65 local bodies comprising one Municipal Council (MC), seven Urban Councils (UC) and 57 Pradeshiya Sabhas (PS) ended. Currently they are functioning under the Secretary of that particular body.
The terms of 21 other LG bodies comprising 15 MCs, one UC and five PSs are due to end on October 16, while two MCs terms end on October 31. A senior official of the Elections Department said the DC report had at least 70 technical issues that needed to be rectified in its final report, which they had notified the Legal Draftsmen’s Depart of.
United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP and Minister of Petroleum and Petroleum Gas, Chandima Weerakkody said his party’s stand on the LG polls is that it should be held under the new electoral system, and dismissed views on holding it under the existing form.
The current State Minister who was then Deputy Speaker said, the fact that the Act was passed unanimously in the House, should be taken into consideration by the parties urging the Government to revert to the old system.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director, Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Times that, as these local bodies are the closest to the public and associated with their day-to-day activities, the public are facing difficulties due to the lack of proper elected LG bodies.
“Because of this long delay to hold elections to elect their representatives to these Councils, many Councils are inactive because some of its secretaries are not fit to conduct its affairs during this interim period,” Mr Hettiarachchi noted. Approvals for buildings and development projects are halted or awaiting their green light from the authorities.
Meanwhile the final report of the National DC on LG councils has recommended an increase in the number of elected members to the councils under a Ward-based system, by 595, to 5,081. Under the new system, LG members will be elected under the FPP to 4,573 wards, while two members each will be elected to 241 wards. There will also be nine Wards where three members each will be elected.