Columns

By Sandun Jayawardana

Soon after the sittings began on Thursday, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena presented two reports in his capacity as Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, containing his observations on two Private Members’ Bills. The two bills had been presented by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Parliamentarian Premanath C. Dolawatte and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Imthiaz Bakeer Markar. Both bills seek to amend the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act to increase the quota for youth candidates on nomination lists.

For weeks now, opposition parties have been alleging that the government is determined to postpone the local council elections for fear of the hammering it is likely to receive from the electorate. As such, opposition MPs ques ioned the timing of the government’s decision to consider the bill now when the Election Commission (EC) had only just called for nominations for the elections that are due to be held before March 20.

Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella accused the government of setting aside Mr. Bakeer Markar’s bill, submitted six months before Mr. Dolawatte’s bill. He claimed the decision to set aside the SJB MP’s bill and take up the SLPP member’s bill now as a matter of urgency by the PM’s office smacked of an attempt to push back the local council polls. “This is despicable,” he said.

In response, an irate Prime Minister shot back: “You are totally misleading this House. You are unaware of what is happening. You are irresponsible in your utterances.”

The Premier said the first of his reports contained his observations on Mr. Dolawatte’s bill while the second contained observations on Mr. Bakeer Markar’s bill.

Mr. Kiriella was not to be deterred. “The bill that was submitted six months prior should come first,” he insisted.

Backing him, SJB’s S.M. Marikkar said his party agreed with the bill in principle, but it should have been taken up last year when the government postponed the local council polls. “The bill is being brought in now with the aim of postponing the election. That is why we are against it,” he said. Joining the debate, National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake pointed out that political parties were compiling their nomination lists after the EC had announced dates for nominations.

“As per the law, 10% of nomination lists for wards must be made up of female candidates while 25% of the total number of members in each authority must be females. Nomination lists are being compiled based on these criteria and we only have two weeks to submit those nominations. In the midst of this, we now have a bill before Parliament that seeks to add youth representation to that.”

If the bill is passed by Parliament before the next elections, it will create a serious issue for nomination lists as they will be in contravention of the new amendment. This in turn will create difficulties for the EC to hold the poll as scheduled, Mr. Dissanayake pointed out. There is no reason for anyone to be perturbed by the bill that was before Parliament, claimed Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. He said any bill that comes before the House had to go through a lengthy process according to the Constitution before it was adopted. It must first go to the Ministerial Consultative Committee. There was also a two-week period during which anyone could go to court and challenge the bill. It would take a further three weeks for the court to give its order on the proposed bill, he explained.

“Anyone with some common sense will understand that it takes anywhere between two and a half to three months for any bill presented to this House to be adopted. It becomes law only from the date on which the Speaker places his signature on the bill. As such, the election will be over by the time this becomes law,” the Justice Minister said.

But his explanation was not enough to allay the opposition’s fears. The main opposition SJB leader Sajith Premadasa said that while the Justice Minister could say there was no cause for undue alarm, there were real fears about whether the government would allow the electoral process to continue.

Pointing out that the government was making direct and indirect statements that there were no funds to spend on an election, he asked the Justice Minister to respond directly to the question of whether the government would provide the necessary support for the EC to hold the polls as scheduled and enable new councils to be established before March 20. Minister Rajapakshe said that according to the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, the responsibility of conducting elections had been vested with the independent Election Commission. “Neither the government nor Parliament has the power to interfere in its affairs. We are not going to obstruct its activities or change its agenda.” The back-and-forth finally ended when House Leader Susil Premajayantha agreed with NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake that both the bill and the PM’s observations on it should go to the Cabinet for approval before being presented to Parliament again.

“That is the procedure and I thank Mr. Dissanayake for explaining the matter so clearly to the Chief Opposition Whip as well,” Minister Premajayantha said. Mr. Kiriella got in the last word. “We will see if it happens as the Leader of the House says,” he quipped.

Parliament reconvenes on January 17.