HAS PARTY POLITICS LET DOWN THE PEOPLE?

Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has been quoted by several print and electronic media institutions as saying that there is an unusual drop in the registration of voters this year in Colombo and its suburbs.

He is reported to have said that only 60,000 new names had been registered while 76,000 names were removed from the voters’ register in areas such as Colombo, Dehiwala, Mt. Lavania, Moratuwa and Kotte because of the failure by the voters to enter their names in the electoral register. In the Colombo suburbs, such as Maharagama, 9,500 names were added while 14,000 names would be deleted owing to the same reason. Mr. Deshapriya said a marginal increase or decrease was normally expected but pointed out that the drop in registration this year was considerable.

This is particularly evident in the case of Maharagama which has a sizable middle class and an upper middle class population. The usual pattern of change in the electoral register thus far had been a regular increase year by year corresponding to the population growth and the migration of people to the Western Province. The number of registered voters in these areas according to media reports had been 1,468,537 and 1,521,854 in 2005 and 2010 presidential elections respectively, and 1,552,734 in 2014.

Mr. Deshapriya has attributed this unprecedented slump in the district where the majority of educated people in the country reside to two reasons – increasing number of luxury apartments and sagging interest among low-income people in registering themselves as voters. The elections chief notes that a change in attitudes among youth and professionals had also contributed to the new trend or mindset.

Some of the reasons mentioned by the Elections Chief to this unusual situation seem to be doubtful or inconclusive. He claims that Grama Niladharis find it difficult to approach some of the people living in luxury apartments to hand over the electoral registration list. But luxury apartments are not something that sprang up in Sri Lanka just last year resulting in Grama Niladharis having to face logistical problems this year.

Visiting every family living in high rise buildings to distribute voter registration forms and to collect them again, no doubt is a daunting task for the Grama Niladharis. If we translate the in-approachability of the residents of luxury apartments into simple language means that Grama Niladharis may not be visiting each and every family in these condominiums. This cannot be justified just because it is strenuous, but the authorities must find some mechanism to ease their workload. Otherwise, as already happened, this “inapproachability” would deprive the residents of high rise condominiums of their franchise and unscrupulous officials also could use it in a manner that would deprive the members of a particular political party of their right to elect the representative of their choice.

The other two reasons for the decrease in registration of voters -- sagging interest among low-income people and the change in attitude among youth and professionals are serious. There may be various reasons for the dissociation of people from politics or election. However people’s disappointment over the goings on in the country and their understanding that they are repeatedly being cheated by the consecutive governments should be a major reason.

For instance, one of the main reasons for the voters to vote against the previous government was the large-scale corruption that was widely prevalent then and the hope of a corruption free country that was instilled in their minds by the leaders of the present government. However, any right thinking man who had voted this government into office would have felt being taken for a ride, after the Central Bank bond scam came to light.

In the same way people would have been disappointed over the opportunism of the two main parties exposed in issues such as SAITM. In the case of youth, they have been longing for better opportunities for education and employment and might feel being let down by the two main parties.

This is a grave situation as people cannot be immune from the effects – especially the bad effects of politics, in spite of keeping away from politics or elections. If the trend continues, there is a danger of them finally drifting towards other methods of regime change, as happened in the past.