KAMALIKA PIERIS

REVISED 18.11.24

The second Yahapalana government which started with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2019, followed by Ranil Wickremesinghe In 2022 came to an end in September 2024, with the election of a new President, JVP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

 For the first time in our political history, a rural lad was voted into the highest position in the land.  We had ‘Tanamalvila kollek ‘on television. Now we have a ‘Tambuttegama kollek’ as our President. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is holding    a position which snobs think should be filled only by a kalu sudda”. Therefore, those who are not snobs are very happy about it, whether they voted for him or not.  Sri Lanka is still   very   keen on upward mobility”.

 NPP had the public believe that the country had gained absolutely nothing during successive governments since Independence  If so, how come an office aide’s son from Tambuttegama received free education and graduated from a state university with a science degree, and went on to become the President of Sri Lanka asked Island.

Island editorial noted, what made the NPP’s impressive electoral victories possible was the unstinting support of the ‘voters of passage’, who shift their political loyalties, based on changing circumstances, their own interests and the prevailing political climate.

There is reason to believe that most of those who helped raise the NPP’s votes from a meagre 3% to a whopping 61% and its parliamentary seats from a mere three to a stunning 159 within just four years are the ones who voted overwhelmingly for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential race and for the SLPP in the 2020 general election, concluded Island.[1]

Dissanayake won only because there was a sharp swing away from   known politicians to the totally unknown.  Voters   were fed up with the old lot and were prepared to gamble with an untested new lot. They   want ‘the good life’ back and were readily prepared to   vote in anyone who offered to provide it.

The country now hopes the new President will deliver. That remains to be seen.  With the landslide victory at the General Election, 2024 comes responsibility.  To be all things to all people, to deliver the sun and the moon as promised, with the electorate watching.

It is argued that the victory is a historic victory, because never before has a single political party won   such a landslide. Analysts speak of very high percentages, such as 70%. That is not correct. The   Jatika Jana Balavegaya, earlier known as Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, obtained 6,863,186 votes in an election where the registered voters, were 17,140,354. This means that the NPP has secured just 40% of the vote and not 70%.

It is also important to note that the NPP is not a Leftist party though the international media says it is.  The NPP was never a Marxist party and those who know Marxism are aware of this. A Marxist party approaches governance differently and uses a different political jargon.

 At the election, there was a sharp drop in voter turnout, which was between 55% and 65% in contrast to the 79% who voted as the Presidential election. [2] The voter turnout at Colombo was 65%, Nuwara-Eliya 68%, Matara 64%, Batticaloa 61%, Puttalam 56%, Anuradhapura 65% and Kurunegala 64%.

There is a clear pattern in the voting response. Those supporting Sajith Premadasa (Samagi Jana Balavegaya) and Ranil Wickremesinghe (New Democratic Front) have stayed away, ignoring the need for a strong opposition. Those supporting Jatika Jana Balavegaya and those supporting Sarvajana Balaya have loyally trotted to the polls. Both parties increased their votes and Sarvajana Balaya with its handfuls of votes (one of which was mine) has obtained a bonus seat.

 The first version of this essay was written before the new Parliament was announced. The members of the new   Parliament have since been announced and the Cabinet sworn in. 

 Critics have observed that the new government is full of novices, and most Ministers will have no experience whatsoever with governance. The experienced and knowledgeable politicians are now outside Parliament. The forces the JVP/NPP boasts of having vanquished are likely to make a comeback, critics warned.

There are several positive features in this new Parliament. Firstly, there is a notable improvement in the intellectual level of the MPs. Many are professionals, lawyers, doctors, university academics and school teachers. The landslide brought them in.  It can be safely assumed that the intelligence level and critical approach will also be high.

This means, hopefully, that these MPs will look at the matters that come up in Parliament in a responsible manner. They will, we hope, look critically at the Bills brought before them and also do some research of their own before they agree to anything.  One looks forward to high quality debates once the new MPs find their feet.

Secondly, there is the welcome arrival of a disabled MP, Sugath Wasantha de Silva, a graduate of the University of Colombo and a social welfare officer, who is visually impaired. This is to be applauded.

 Thirdly, the defeated parties have pledged to support the winning party. This shows maturity. In the old days, say in the 1950s, winners and losers celebrated the results by assaulting each other.

Critics have observed that many MPs are new to Parliament .That is not an issue. All politicians start that way. There was a first time for DS, SWRD and the rest too. What is important in this case is that these people are also new to politics not just Parliament. Some have local government experience, that is good, but many have come straight from home. They are utterly green and probably very idealistic.

Some of this landslide lot will stay and continue in politics. They will leave the NPP eventually, but will stay on in politics. NPP may in this respect have acted as a catchment area for those coming freshly into politics sans family connections. That is good.

Some will enjoy their stay. I spoke to a school mate who had been an MP and asked what it was like.  ‘Can go abroad a lot’ she said.  But some will get a rude shock when they find out what Parliament politics is like and my guess is that many will not return to Parliament once their term is over.

 The   Parliament opposition is abnormally small. They will not be able to defeat a single government Resolution. But there are dozens of experienced former Parliamentarians who are watching events from outside.

They have far more political experience and are far more politically astute than those   inside Parliament. They also have the ability to whip up opposition and squash events. They know where to look and how to find out. For instance they will know if the three agreements with America, ACSA, SOFA and MCC are to be signed secretly.

The Tamil dominated Northern and Eastern provinces have also given substantial votes to the NPP.  NPP won two seats in Trincomalee, getting 42.48% of the votes, won two seats in the Vanni district with 20.37% votes and bagged three seats in Jaffna with 24.85%. [3]Two JVPers Bimal Ratnayake and Ramalingam Chandrasekaran had taken up residence in Jaffna and carried out the NPP campaign. [4]

NPP also won 5 seats in Nuwara Eliya. Whether the NPP will be able to retain its popularity in the North and the East will depend on how it handles contentious issues such as devolution and the UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka, said Island. [5]

The voting system followed in Sri Lanka today needs evaluation.  There are three positive aspects in today’s system. The first is Proportional Voting. Instead of the ‘first past the post’ which existed earlier, we now have Proportional Voting .In the old ‘first past the post’ method, there was just one winner, the rest were forgotten.

 In Proportional voting, MPs are elected on the proportion of votes obtained by each political party. Proportional voting gives weight to all votes, whether they are winning votes or not. Losing parties are also assigned seats in Parliament based on the proportion of votes they got.

The second good feature is that Proportional Voting also allows the voter to vote for the candidate of this choice.  The voter chooses the party then selects the persons or persons that he wishes to send to Parliament from that party. The nominated candidates are indicated by number on the ballot paper and the vote is completed in a single visit to the polling station.

The third good feature is the Bonus Vote”.  This enables a fledgling party like Sarvajana Balaya to obtain a seat in Parliament on its total number of votes though it came sixth on the list.

There is however a serious defect in the present election system, which manages to cancel the positive aspects of the present voting system. That is the creation of huge, massive electorates instead of small manageable constituencies.

In the traditional system, which was supposed to imitate the democratic system of the Greek market place, there were electoral Constituencies,”   where the citizen directly voted for the candidate he wanted to see in Parliament. Each constituency had a seat in Parliament and the winning candidate went straight in.

 In this system,   the voters knew who their Member of Parliament was, and who to go to when necessary. The MP also, in his turn, nursed his constituency and looked after his voters, especially if he intended to return to Parliament at the next election. Even otherwise he had an obligation to look after his constituency.

From 1989 this system was abandoned. The 160 single-member, double-member and triple-member districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts which generally matched the administrative districts. The earlier constituencies continued as   polling divisions within the Electoral districts.

These new Electoral Districts are huge. They contain administrative divisions that have little to do with each other. The Colombo electorate   consists of the following electoral   districts. Colombo North, Colombo West, Colombo East, Colombo Central, Borella,   Dehiwela, Ratmalana, Maharagama, Homagama, Kaduwela, Kolonnawa, Avissawella, Kesbewa, Kotte and Moratuwa. Many of these districts have no connection to Colombo and are far away from each other. Avissawella is at one end, Moratuwa at the other.

 In the 1970 general election in Colombo, most of these electoral divisions were separate constituencies which sent in their own MPs. The following were separate constituencies in 1970. Colombo North, Colombo Central, Colombo South, Borella, Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kesbewa, Homagama, Avissawella. [6]

 The Kandy electorate consists today of   Galagedara, Harispattuwa, Pata Dumbara, Uda Dumbara , Teldeniya, Kundasale, Hewaheta,  Senkadagala, Mahanuwara, Yatinuwara,  Udunuwara, Gampola, and Nawalapitiya.

In 1970, these   were separate constituencies with MPs of their own.  Senkadagala, Udu Nuwara, Yati Nuwara, Galagedara, Hanguranketa, Hewaheta, Kundasale, Nawalapitiya, Teldeniya and Walapane were separate constituencies in 1970.

The style of electioneering changed to match this development .Before 1989, when it was constituency based election; there were many small rallies within the constituency. Audiences gathered at convenient outdoor locations, to listen to the candidates.  Some perched on trees, the rest stood, a few were given seats.

After 1989, this was not possible. The electorate was too large. Election campaigns consisted therefore of huge rallies in selected locations, organized as outreach events. The voters were brought in by vehicles and all were given seats.  The audience saw this as a chance to   benefit themselves in addition to a free outing. They demanded money, hard liquor and meals, if they were to attend. [7]The   same groups went from rally to rally, political party to political party. Middlemen took them there, also for money.

This new system of huge electorates violates democracy.   It violates the main   purpose of an    election in a democratic society, the direct election of       representatives. Today, instead of one MP per constituency, there is a gaggle of MPs for the whole electoral division.

Due to the huge size of each electorate, the   MPs do not know the voters and the voters do not know the MPs. There is no link between the two. Therefore elected MPs do not feel any obligation towards the voters, forgetting the fact that they entered Parliament thorugh the ballots of these voters. Critics observed that enlarging the electorate was the source of   the corruption which arose thereafter. [8]

This distortion of the democratic election was done by JR Jayewardene when he was President. He wanted to make the political party the sole focus of power in the state.    JR wanted to reduce the   voting power of the citizen.  He wanted to sever the link between the voter and MP. He wanted the voter eliminated altogether at the Presidential election. He wanted the Presidential election to be decided by an Electoral College. Chandrananda de Silva, Commissioner of Elections said No.

There was another distortion of the democratic process, by the introduction of a National List at the General election. The National List comprises 29 members who enter Parliament without contesting. The number of National List seats each party receives is based on their proportion of the national vote.

Although the National List was originally intended to bring experts and professionals into Parliament, the National List was used instead to bring in political loyalists, including defeated candidates.

Critics have pointed out that these National List nominees are not elected representatives. They violated the principle that ALL members of a House of Representatives (or a single governing assembly), must be voted in by the people. These National list   entrants are not voted in, they are not elected. They have no accountability to the people.   They never had to promise anything to the voters and never received a vote explicitly directed at them, complained critics.[9]  (concluded)

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[1] 18.11.24  https://island.lk/super-mandate-and-sobering-reality/

[2] It was around 55 to 65 percent at several districts, according to their returning officers.

[3] 18.11.24 https://island.lk/new-sri-lanka-and-challenges-and-possibilities-of-super-majority/

[4] https://www.sundaytimes.lk/241117/columns/npps-unexpected-two-thirds-victory-leaves-battered-opposition-struggling-to-regroup-578153.html

[5] 18.11.24  https://island.lk/super-mandate-and-sobering-reality/

[6] https://elections.gov.lk/web/wp-content/uploads/election-results/parliamentary-elections/general-election-1970.pdf

[7] https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/sunday-times-sri-lanka/20241103/281706915188254?srsltid=AfmBOopYbAradDjzNJ1FoS2XB8htVhzD5W9ug1XsGHG5RcepvFJpBPev

[8] Island fin rev. 26.8.14 p 4.K Godage

[9] https://island.lk/oddity-of-the-national-list-twins-in-a-single-body-a-commentary/