Has democracy gone missing in Sri Lanka?

14 March 2014 09:54 pm Views - 2234

A front page news item by Sandun Jayasekera in today’s Daily Mirror states that the UPFA wants to change election laws but on reading the report it turns out that the intention of the petitioners related to matters such as canvassing near pooling booths and displaying of posters, etc. (Canvassing near polling stations was made illegal to prevent intimidation of voters.)


If we wish to re establish true participatory democracy in this country, it is essential to address the fundamental causes for the gradual breakdown of democracy since 1978. We MUST first of all change the electoral system which is a caricature of what it used to be. My thoughts go back to 1956, the election that has been described as one that heralded a political and social revolution in our country. The result was accepted by the UNP and power changed hands. The first election thereafter was held in 1961 March and that was indeed a historic one not only because the Prime Minister himself (W. Dahanayake) lost his seat but this election saw the emergence of the world’s first woman Prime Minister. As for Mr Dahanayake, he is said to have taken a public transport back to Galle his hometown the same night; such were our politicians then. These were men who had self respect; let us seek to restore value-based politics in this country. There was an effort to set up a new political party inspired by the principles and values that were associated with the Ceylon National Congress of yesteryear, but the efforts for such a move had come to naught.


In this regard, I wish to recall a statement made by the then minister Milinda Moragoda, “Today in Sri Lanka, after thirty years of conflict and violence, we must take stock of our democracy……. I would argue that the corrosive impact of this conflict has destroyed our institutions, affected our values and ideals and torn our society apart, instead of a well-balanced and functioning democracy; we have an angry society where hatred, jealousy, greed and selfishness are all too common. Our society has undergone this transformation incrementally, almost imperceptibly. In this post-conflict period which offers unlimited opportunities and every reason for people and parties to come together to work towards a better future, we appear to be having to contend with the residual impact of the trauma we have collectively endured.”


Yes politics in this country today is a blood sport governed by the rules of the slum where the criminal underworld rules and where the scum of our society predominate. Politicians were for some years the patrons of the scum but the wheel appears to have turned and the scum from the slums, with their values, have begun to lord it over the politicians. Some have even become politicians. The form of politics that is found in the West and which we have had in this country until 1977 appears to have gone out of the window with the Constitution of 1978, which created a constitutional dictatorship, but I hope that this is not forever. Political Parties in this country represent organized hatred. The blood sport could result in a blood bath at future Presidential and Parliamentary elections unless we do something about it.


Let us at least implement the Dinesh Gunawardena-Report. I am more than disappointed that he has not led the charge to have the necessary legislation introduced and passed to restore Democracy in this country, Yes not only me personally, but many concerned citizens are disappointed. We must also have the Right to Information Bill re-introduced. I would have expected the value based MEP and Dinesh to have given leadership.
As suggested by the committee headed by Dinesh Gunawardena, let us introduce a mixture of both the First-Past-the-Post system and the Proportional Representation system as in Germany. PR is profoundly democratic for it increases the influence of thousands who would otherwise have no influence in the government, and it brings the people more nearer to equality by so contriving that no vote is wasted and that every voter shall contribute to bringing into Parliament a member of his preferred choice.

"Let us at least implement the Dinesh Gunawardena-Report. I am more than disappointed that he has not led the charge to have the necessary legislation introduced and passed to restore Democracy in this country, Yes not only me personally, but many concerned citizens are disappointed"

The first-past-the-post system produced many majoritarian governments and the minorities in this country did not feel that they had any say in deciding their destiny or had any part in the governing of this country. They felt alienated and to this could be traced the beginning of our ethnic problem. We need to adopt a voting system that would do justice not only to the minorities but to the majority as well. The introduction of PR in 1978 was perhaps intended to ensure justice for the minorities but the preferential voting system that accompanied it has made a mockery of democracy in this country. I do hope the government decides to do away with this System which has resulted in spreading hatred with candidates of the same political party killing each other.
Our own experience shows conclusively that the proportional representational system adopted by us presents no great difficulty to the voter BUT our system does not make for stable government (because of a low cut off point; no political party which polls an insignificant number of votes would be represented in Parliament) and equally importantly the voter today is unable to identify as to who represents him in Parliament. This is a huge drawback because in a country such as ours the voters depend heavily on his or her MP for many of his needs and the present system does not make for such a relationship. Democracy in its fullest sense must be restored to the people of this country. Parliament must reflect the will of the people.