News
Alarm over likely backdoor entry of women cronies to local councils
Women activists and civil society organisations have expressed serious concerns that the additional nomination list or second nomination list, which would be decided by political party hierarchy and independent group leaders, would lead to unelected candidates and cronies of politicians being nominated through the back door at the expense of the quota for women in local bodies.
The Elections Commission, meanwhile, is trying to work out an amicable solution with political parties.
Dr Sepali Kottegoda, director of programmes at the Women and Media Collective, told the Sunday Times that even though it is early to determine how women’s participation is going to be defined before nominations from the additional nomination paper is filed, some politicians are already trying to push their acolytes and unelected candidates through it.
“The law is not perfect, there are some loopholes which resulted in an unexpected overhang and in some local bodies where there were no women candidates elected.
The Election Commission should implement the law and should make sure the women’s quota of 25% is allocated, ” Dr Kottegoda said, while emphasising that women are entitled to be in local government according to the law.
The EC has urged political parties and independent groups to take a progressive and voluntary role to appoint more women candidates through the nomination list to comply with the quota requirements.
The EC on Thursday wrote to secretaries of political parties and leaders of independent groups who secured seats in the local polls on the distribution of seats for women in local bodies, “encouraging them” to meet the quota.
The decision to ask political parties and independent groups for their voluntary support was taken after a meeting with all assistant election commissioners island-wide and commissioners of the Election Commission on Thursday.
Ahead of that meeting, EC chairman Mahinda Deshapriya met with the leaders of political parties in Parliament earlier this week to ask them to finalise the additional nomination papers before March 2. An official gazette notice of elected members of all local bodies will be released the next day, March 3, according to the EC.
According to the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance, the first nomination paper should consist of 10% of women candidates who will be elected under first past the post system while 50% is allocated for women candidates in the additional nomination list under the Proportional Representation scheme.
Mr Deshapriya said at a press briefing this week that in at least 10 local bodies the quota for women cannot be met.
The Batticaloa Municipal Council and Manmunaipattu Pradeshiya Sabha in the Batticaloa district; Karaitheevu Pradeshiya Sabha, and Thirukkovil Pradeshiya Sabha in Ampara are unable to have elected women representatives. The situation is similar in Jaffna at the Velanai and Neduntheevu Pradeshiya Sabhas.
The election law states that political parties or independent groups that received less than 20% of total votes in a particular ward and failed to secure at least three seats are not bound to nominate women candidates.
According to Mr Deshapriya, the situation arose because some political parties failed to secure adequate seats in the wards which resulted in an overhang where one party polled votes in big numbers. Those parties which came in second and secured more than three seats, are now left with the option of nominating more women candidates from the additional nomination list.
“We can’t force political parties to nominate more women candidates, but we will encourage them to consider complying with the 25% quota. Nearly 10% of women candidates, or 535, have been elected from the FPP system, which is very welcome considering the poor women representation of 1.9% in the past,” Mr Deshapriya told the media.
According to local election results, 5,307 members have been elected under the FPP system from 340 local bodies. 535 of them were women. The prescribed number of expected candidates to be elected was 4943, however the overhang of 364 saw an increase in the number of total elected candidates under FPP.
Mayor-elect of the Colombo Municipal Council, Rosy Senanayake, urged Mr Deshapriya to implement the people’s mandate as “the law cannot be set aside nor the clear intent of he law be defeated just because some political parties now have to nominate more women from their lists than they expected to’’.
“To now say that this minimum of 25% of women council members cannot be implemented is disingenuous and in bad faith. Neither the Election Commission nor the political parties should consider adhering to this law to be ‘unfair’ or ‘burdensome,” Mrs Senanayake said while assuring that she is willing to engage in discussions to amend the law to further clarify the details of how exactly women members are to be allocated by each political party in different circumstances.
Opposing any moves aimed at reversing the quota for women, the People’s Action For Free and Fair Elections urged to set up councils which have secured adequate women candidates immediately, and thereafter law makers and political parties could come to a common understanding to resolve this issue in the remaining bodies without revisiting the passed legislation.
PAFFREL executive director, Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Times that the unexpected overhang and complications resulted from certain provisions incorporated in the law to fulfil the wishes of certain political parties and ensure their level of representation.