Isn’t there a way to downsize LG bodies?

After weeks of speculation and allegation by the Opposition parties that the government was going to postpone the local government elections, the Election Commission (EC) finally on  Thursday issued an official announcement on the matter. EC Chairman Nimal Punchihewa in his statement said that the Commission had decided to announce the dates to tender nominations for the elections during the last week of this month (December).He had further said in his statement that the decision was taken at the meeting of the Commission on Thursday. This is the first official announcement on the LG elections after they were postponed by a year in February this year. The last elections to elect members for 340 LG bodies for a period of four years was held on February 10, 2018 and the next elections had to be held last February.  

Before this statement was issued the EC Chairman had told the same to the Daily Mirror as well which the paper carried last Monday.  

The main Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) along with the National People’s Power (NPP) or Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB), the political movement led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has been demanding for the past several weeks that the elections for local authorities be held before March 20, without being postponed.  

The Chairman of the Election Commission had told the Daily Mirror that he had received the Attorney General’s opinion on conducting LG elections and hence there was no legal impediment to hold the elections for 340 LG bodies by March 19, 2023. However, the polls chief had said that he could not disclose the opinion conveyed by the Attorney General. 

 
At the same time he seemed to be cautious of possible legal hurdles. “I don’t know whether there would be any legal or Constitutional impediment in the days to come, before releasing of the gazette” he had said. Yet, now that the he has officially undertaken to announce the dates for tendering nominations, one could be assured of elections being held, without being postponed again.  

The Opposition parties’ suspicion that the government was attempting to postpone the local government elections arose with a recent statement by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe while making several suggestions to the country’s electoral system at a meeting with a group of professionals at the Presidential Secretariat on October 9 had stated that the number of members in local government bodies should be brought down from the current 8000 to 4000.   

Irrespective of the fact that they cannot object to the President’s suggestion, especially against the backdrop of the current economic meltdown, the Opposition parties wasted no time to decide the motive of the government. In fact there were two very strong factors that prompt one to suspect that the ruling parties, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the United National Party (UNP) which the President heads might postpone LG elections.  

On the one hand, both the ruling parties have least confidence in their own popularity at this juncture, owing to the unprecedented economic hardships that majority of people are currently undergoing. On the other, the notoriety that the UNP had earned for foxiness 
( shrewdness) by indefinitely postponing the provincial council election during the previous Yahapalana Government is still  
fresh in the minds of the people.   

The UNP during the previous government attempted to postpone the PC election through a Bill with provisions to hold elections for all nine provincial councils on the same day, but it did not materialize. However, it succeeded in it by introducing a mixed electoral system for PCs. Holding elections for all nine provincial councils on the same day as well as introducing mixed electoral system which had then been agreed upon by all parties after deliberations in a Parliamentary  
select committee were no doubt good. However, the UNP used those ideas with ulterior motives.   

Hence, one cannot blame the Opposition parties now for suspecting that the history might repeat itself, under the same leadership of the UNP.  

The leaders of the ruling SLPP and the UNP have been showing their aversion to holding any election, national or regional since lately. They rejected the call for a mid-term Parliamentary election by the Opposition parties who argue that the current Parliament no longer reflects the real opinion of the people. Also they seemed to be not in favour of holding LG elections which have to be held in March according to the law. They justify their contention citing the economic crisis. That was another reason for the speculations that the LG elections would be deferred.   

The recent public uprising was a clear indication of the fast sagging popularity of the government led by the SLPP. The uprising was not organized by any political party in spite of several Opposition parties supported it in order to gain political mileage. It was a convergence of various spontaneous protests due to frustration and anger in various groups in the Sri Lankan society over economic hardships. The absence of protests and agitations in that magnitude now does not mean that the government has regained its lost popularity. The relative tranquility is merely a direct outcome of the brutal crackdown on protesters. Therefore, the election fright among the leaders and the rank and file of the two ruling parties is comprehensible.  

Yet, electing more than 8000 instead of 4000 members to 341 local government bodies just because to implement the mixed electoral system is a colossal waste of public funds at a time when money is printed while the burden of various taxes are heaped on the poor people to run the government. According to some reports the government had to spend monthly a staggering Rs. 135 million for salaries and little over Rs. 600 million for other allowances of 8691 members of local government bodies elected at the 2018 elections.  

Nevertheless, the salary drawn by an ordinary Pradeshiya Sabha member is about Rs. 15,000 and the mayor of a municipality draws only Rs. 30,000. Only an awfully insane person would conclude that it is for these meager payments that these local politicians spend tens of millions of rupees and dare even to kill their opponents during elections. The bottom line is that there are undeclared illegal as well as legal but unscrupulous means and powers awarded to them, to earn  millions. Besides, this is a country where according to a recent newspaper report the state had paid Rs. 40,000 for certain kind of an injection when its price was only Rs. 250. It was also revealed during a recent meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) that the Land Reform Commission had sold lands at a rate of Rs. 373 per acre (Rs. 2 per perch). The CPC had paid millions as overtime to its employees of the refinery while it had been closed for want of crude oil. When such corruption and impunity become the order of the day, price of positions in state sector with powers would go through the roof. And higher the number of such positions higher the corruption and waste of public funds as well.  

Therefore, it is high time to downsize the local government bodies, despite there being a danger of elections being put off, in the guise of doing so. However, if the government and the Opposition are honest and concerned about the plight of the people, they can arrive at a conclusion to revert first to the old PR system temporarily and hold the LG elections in March as scheduled and then change the law later to reduce the number of members. However, now it seems to be too late as the EC has decided to go ahead with elections to elect over 8000 LG members.