Are People losing faith in elections?
The two main political parties, the UNP and the SLFP at 70 and 65 respectively, celebrated their anniversaries over the past two weeks. In the meantime, however, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has re-launched a campaign to get eligible voters to register for next year because the level of interest has seemingly, waned.
That disinterest among the public is alarming given the fact that voting at elections was one of the high points of Sri Lanka’s democracy. The NEC Chairman didn’t give reasons for the drop in enthusiasm, but the inference can only be attributed to the general apathy creeping in with the political environment in the country. Are people getting tired of elections, and the outcome of such elections? Do they feel their mandate means little or nothing when post-elections see even defeated candidates get ministerial posts?
The Minister of Local Government is like a President’s Counsel seeking dates (postponements) when he has a bad brief. He has now said the long overdue local government elections will be held in February next year, about the third time he has given a date. The time period of 335 local councils around the country lapsed this year, and many last year.
The delay in holding fresh elections has been put on the doorstep of the National Delimitation Commission tasked in 2012 with carving up new wards and relate d matters, and a committee that was to go into complaints on what the Commission has recommended. Yet, the report of the committee has been ready from June this year and it is the Government that is asking it to delay its handing over.
The reasons are clear; the SLFP’s internal strife has to be settled first. There is a real danger that the mainstream SLFP could come a poor third to the UNP and those within the party challenging its agenda – much like what happened to the German Chancellor’s party recently, though for different reasons. In the process, Special Commissioners have been appointed under the Local Authority Act by the Minister. They have been vested with all the powers enjoyed by the elected councillors except to pass resolutions. Sometimes they do a better job than all the elected representatives put together sans political interference; but sometimes they can be disasters.
The Colombo Municipality is currently in bad shape. The capital city’s roads are in shambles. Our INSIGHT story last week pointed out how the mere paving of sidewalks around the proposed Theatre District in Colombo 7 has so far taken nine months and workmen are present for just two hours a day. The report brought a flood of letters this week to the newspaper from irate rate payers from around the country complaining about the roads dug up and little or no work being done in and around where they live, particularly in the densely populated Colombo and the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia areas. Garbage clearance is at a standstill in some towns and the people are voiceless.
As the people have to grin and bear until the SLFP gets its house in order for the local council polls, the Minister who invoked these Special Commissioners on the orders of the high command will have to take a more pro-active role in seeing they work. No wonder, there is apathy among voters to register.