Parliament

‘Oh what a circus, oh what a show!’
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
If history is to record a day of infamy for Sri Lanka's Parliament, it will have to be April 22, 2004, when the simple task of electing a Speaker was used to turn all accepted norms of Parliamentary behaviour on its head and relegate the Chamber to the level of an unruly classroom minus a teacher.

It took nine gruelling hours amidst ugly scenes for the 225 Members of Parliament to elect one single person as Speaker, making the April 2 general election in which nearly 12 million people voted look pretty tame.

With controversy surrounding the lead up to the first day of Parliament and the election of a Speaker, a close fight was expected for the prestigious position but none were prepared for what eventually transpired.

Sittings began with the Secretary General of Parliament Priyanee Wijesekera reading out the proclamation by President Chandrika Kumaratunga summoning Parliament. The next item was the election of the Speaker for which post the former Speaker and UNP Gampaha district MP Joseph Michael Perera proposed the name of W.J.M.Lokubandara while SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem seconded it.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse then proposed the name of D.E.W.Gunasekera and JVP's Wimal Weerawansa seconded it. There were signs of trouble early on with the presence of two monks elected to Parliament on the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) ticket but who have since had differences with the Supreme Council of the Party showing up early in the Chamber and seating themselves on the government side of the House. However, they crossed over to the opposition benches and sat with the other seven members of the JHU. But the rift in ranks was becoming obvious.

With voting about to start, the seven members of the JHU left the Chambers soon after the ballot papers were handed out to all the MPs, with Kalutara district MP Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera announcing they would abstain from voting but the party would not be responsible for the actions of the other two members.

The situation became tense when Minister Jeyraj Fernandopulle charged that several UNP members had tried to collect the ballot papers of the monks who left the Chamber, leading to a heated exchange of words. It was after the monks returned to the Chamber and announced that they had not accepted the ballot papers, as they would not be casting their vote that things calmed down.

But there were more objections from the government side- this time saying there should be a more transparent system of voting which prompted the Secretary General to rule that the ballot box would be kept in the Well of the House and each member would be called by name and he could cast his vote. The two rebel monks proceeded to vote as well even though the others abstained.

The first round of polling was concluded around 12.25 but it ended in a tie with both contenders receiving 108 votes each. One vote was rejected and eight votes were not used - one of an absent TNA member and seven of the JHU members.

The Secretary General announced a re-poll and hence a second round of voting got underway. But halfway into this process, Government members objected to the behaviour of some opposition legislators who, after writing the name of the candidate of their choice, went onto show their ballot papers before putting it into the box.

This led to the melee with the ruling party members walking to the Well of the House, some sitting on the floor in protest, some sitting on the ballot box and others standing around shouting.

Efforts by the Secretary General to get things back in order failed and it took the collective effort of the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe and several senior members on both the sides to get the members back to their seats.

The end result was the invalidation of the second poll as well and around 4.30 p.m. the third re-poll began. This time the ballot box was shifted to the Speaker's table and a screen was used to shield the voter as he/she cast the ballot.

With a lapse of around three hours between the second and third poll, intense lobbying took place with Mahinda Samarasinghe, Ravi Karunanayke and Rauff Hakeem being in the forefront of the Opposition ranks to win support for their candidate.

It was the JHU members who came under tremendous pressure from both the government as well as the UNP to support their respective candidates. And when the final result was announced past 7 p.m. Mr.Lokubandara won with 110 votes against 109 for Mr.Gunasekera with the UNP lead Opposition being the obvious beneficiary of the decision by two of the members of the JHU who earlier abstained, to cast their vote. The victory for Mr.Lokubandara was the result of the UNP also winning the support of the Tamil National Alliance, the Ceylon Workers Congress as well as the SLMC.

A jubilant opposition thumped their tables and clapped as the result was announced but at the receiving end of the brickbats of the government ranks were the JHU members, who had papers as well as abuses thrown at them aplenty by angry government lawmakers.

Mr. Lokubandara vowed to work in a bipartisan manner despite the divisive manner in which he won the contest for the position. Amidst the chaos, all the MPs also took their oaths. Party leaders who spoke wished Mr.Lokubandara the best in his new position but none could hide the bitterness that the ugly contest had left behind irrespective of which party they belonged to.

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