26th March 2000

Tactics to ensure parliamentary power

On the basis that the number of votes required to elect an MP is 37,492 and the PA gets at the parliamentary election what it got at the presidential election, namely 4,300,000 of votes, the number of seats that the constituent parties of the PA and the other parties that support it (the SLMC, the CWC, the EPDP and the UNP's alternative group) get will be 115 of the total of 225 parliamentary seats. It will give a majority of barely three seats.

If by any chance those parties together get 300,000 or 400,000 less than what they got at the presidential election, it will inevitably mean a reversal of all the triumphs those parties have scored so far.

Although the PA has won the presidential election, there will come the great constitutional crisis predicted by Dr. N.M. Perera in which one party holds the post of president while another party wields parliamentary power, if the PA fails to get a majority of seats at the coming parliamentary election.

Even if parliamentary power passes on to a party which the president does not like, the President cannot dissolve the Parliament for one year.

And a party which wins a majority of parliamentary seats sometime after the presidential election is unlikely to follow a policy of going along with the President belonging to another party.

The total strength of the PA and the other parties in coalition with it in the present Parliament is 131 seats. When Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Ravi Karunanayake are left out, the PA parties have 103 seats.

The SLMC has 07. The CWC too has 07. The EPDP has 09 and the UNP's alternative group has 05. Thus the total is 131 seats.

Even if the PA gets 4,300,000 of votes at the coming parliamentary elections, which may be considered a very satisfactory election result, and the number of seats is going to be 115 rather than the present 131, such an election cannot please the government.

The government's intention appears to be either to maintain the status quo or to opt for a system of election which will ensure a larger number of seats for the government.

The government appears to be paying attention to two strategies for the purpose.

One of the strategies is to extend the term of the present parliament for a limited period of two years, so that fruitful discussions can take place for effecting a new constitution.

It is with the aim of achieving this, that the government is taking action to grant the MPs a large salary increase with two years retrospective effect and to give them a vehicle absolutely free in addition to those given duty free.

The government believes that those UNP MPs who think that they might not get party nomination for the coming election and those who do not expect to win even if they get the nominations, will support a programme to extend the life of parliament.

The other trump card which the government intends to use in order to achieve its aim is to adopt a combination of the proportionate system and the system of electoral divisions for the coming parliamentary elections. The government also expects to use the existing electoral divisions in order to avoid a new delimitation commission.

The government thinks that by such means it will be possible to prevent disputes among the locally powerful members of the party and to get the maximum state power to help the party candidates who contest and thereby to give itself a great strength in parliament.

The government wants to effect all these changes in its own interests and not for the general welfare of the country and therefore, any such change will inevitably have adverse consequences to the country.

The Special Report

Editorial/ Opinion Contents