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In the run up to the presidential elections, there are repeated questions being asked as to whether the elections will be held on time this year as required by the Constitution.

The ball was set rolling by remarks made by the chairman of the United National Party Vajira Abeywardene and the party’s general secretary Palitha Range Bandara.  

Social media contributed to the uncertainty linking such doubts to reports of the lack of popularity of the Government among the people. Adding to the confusion is the filing of an application in the Supreme Court by one Lenawa asserting that the term of the President is six years and not five, and seeking an interim order preventing the Election Commission from calling for the presidential elections until the Court determines the term of the president.

Several political parties including the Samagi Jana Balavegaya and the National People’s Power have expressed suspicions that President Ranil Wickremesinghe is behind attempts to postpone the constitutionally scheduled elections. The president however has been quick to deny this and stated that he is of the view that the presidential term is five years.

The president is reported to have informed the Maha Nayaka of the Ramagna Maha Nikaya Most Ven Makulewe Wimala Thera when he called on him that he had informed the Election Commissioner of the need to hold the presidential election at the right time.

While it is clearly immoral and unethical to postpone an election when it is due, it is also useful to recall the consequences that have resulted when elections were postponed in the past.

After President J R Jayewardene won the presidential elections in 1982, he decided to call for a referendum to postpone the parliamentary elections, thus depriving the people the opportunity to exercise their franchise and select new representatives to the Legislature.

Thereby he ensured that the majority that he obtained at the parliamentary elections of 1977 would be retained by the United National Party even after the presidential election of 1982.

There were two clear consequences of not holding parliamentary elections as scheduled in 1982. Firstly, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which was getting initiated to the democratic process after the insurrection staged by them in 1971, were deprived of the opportunity to contest and enter Parliament.

Secondly, Velupillai Prabakaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were in their nascent stages too lost the opportunity to contest and enter the Legislature.

As a result of both the JVP and the LTTE being kept out of the democratic process, they resorted to other means to pursue their political goals.

Eventually the JVP staged a violent insurrection in 1988/89 while the LTTE too took the path of violence which transformed into a war that spanned several years and caused the death of thousands of lives.

It is well known that Parliament has a sobering influence on the most revolutionary of persons. If Rohana Wijeweera and Velupillai Prabakaran had the opportunity to contest the parliamentary elections of 1982, they may well have been elected to the Legislature and their revolutionary zeal may have been extinguished or greatly reduced. Thus the country may have been spared the bloodshed and loss of life that it had to face in 1988/89 as well as during the 30 years of the armed conflict with the LTTE.

Another example of the need to have systems in place to address grievances of the populace was the Aragaalaya that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office in 2022.

The present Constitution does not provide for the ouster of the Head of Government (in this case the President) when he loses the confidence of the people. The procedure for the removal of the President through an impeachment is long drawn out. In any event the Constitution does not provide for a loss of confidence of the people in the President as a ground of impeachment.

As a result, the people had no option but to take the law into their own hands and force President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office when life became unbearable. Under the Westminster Parliamentary system, that prevailed earlier, the passage of a simple no confidence motion in Parliament could ensure the removal of a Head of Government (the Prime Minister) in the event of a loss of confidence among the people.

It is hoped that a reminder of these past experiences will be sufficient to dissuade any one from attempting to postpone the presidential or parliamentary elections.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)