The government’s decision to abolish the preferential vote and revert to the earlier system is most welcome. The present system has not only created bitter rivalry and enmity within political parties but also complicated election procedure and considerably increased expenses.
A simple cash-effective and desirable change would be to allow each political party to nominate two candidates – A and B - for each constituency. The voter can then vote for A or B, according to his wishes, and not A and B in order of preference. This would give the voter a choice between two candidates in exercising his vote.
The practice of nominating a single candidate by a party compels the voter to either vote for a candidate he or she does not approve of, and against his/ her conscience, or abstain from voting for the party of his choice. In the latter case, the party is deprived of a valuable vote, which could affect the end results.
The procedure suggested above would promote a healthy rivalry between candidates, who would have to woo voters and gain their confidence. There would also be a better interaction between candidate and voter. This would greatly simplify voting procedures, especially for the rural voter, while cutting costs in conducting the poll.
Daya Wijesekera,
Kotte |
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