Voters’ ability to take informed decisions affected by absence of a national discourse on policy issues

One of the main characteristics of the current election campaign leading up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for August 5 is the absence of a national conversation on critical matters that affect the country.

While there are a plethora of problems that need to be addressed, it is vital that political formations and individual candidates who offer themselves to the voters, make public, well before the elections, their vision and plans to address such problems. These have to be debated and discussed by the voters and other political parties in the run up to the elections. Only then will the voters be able to take an informed decision.

Another matter to be taken into account by the voters will be the track record of a political party or an individual candidate while they held office. In the case of an individual candidate his personal integrity and his contribution to the legislature will be among other factors that the public will take into account.

While the current political discourse has not generated a vigorous debate on any major issue facing the country, this is not to say that it was any different in the recent past. One of the main reasons for this is probably the electoral system that is in force in the country.

Ever since the proportional representation system together with the preference vote became part of the electoral landscape, one has witnessed a gradual deterioration of the political culture with voters being pushed into a individual centric rather than a policy centred approach.

Additionally corruption has increased and undesirables have crept into nomination lists. The system has also allowed political parties to wash their hands of the responsibility of nominating honest candidates by stating that the voter could choose for himself from the several candidates on the list.

There is recognition and agreement across the political divide with regard to the shortcomings in the PR- Manape system of elections currently in force in the country. However the respective political parties have not been able to arrive at a consensus with regard to the system that can be put in place instead. Various variations under the label ‘mixed system’ have been discussed but no conclusion has been arrived at.

One of the main arguments that have been adduced in favour of the principle of proportional representation is that it reflects the proportion of votes cast in favour of the different political parties more accurately than the first past the post system. While this is true, it does not take into consideration other drawbacks such as the increase in corruption as a result of the PR and Manape based electoral system as well as its divisive nature which perpetuates divisions along religious, ethnic and caste lines.

Taking into account all the pluses and minuses of the different electoral systems, the national interest is probably best served by reverting to the First Past the Post system. The mathematical distortion in the number of votes cast in favour of a party and the number of representatives elected from that party can be minimised to a great extent by carving the electoral boundaries in a manner to better reflect the voting pattern.

The benefit to the country by doing so will be immense. The level of corruption will be reduced because a candidate will only require the resources necessary to campaign within the limited area of an electorate unlike in the PR system where he will have to spend to reach voters in the whole electoral district.

For instance a candidate whose electoral base is Kotte will have only to find the money to spend in the Kotte Electorate under the first past the post system while he will have to find the necessary resources to cover the entire Colombo District stretching from Mattakkuliya in the Colombo North Electorate right upto the Avissawella electorate on one side and Moratuwa on the other side.

The first past the post system will also ensure that political parties field better candidates resulting in an improved choice of candidates for the voter. Individuals of standing and who have the capacity to serve the country will also be encouraged to offer themselves as independent candidates even if they are unable to see eye to eye with the policies of any political party. Such candidates if elected will enrich the political culture of the country in no small measure.

Another important feature of the first past the post system is it will greatly promote nation building through national unity. The current PR system is extremely divisive and encourages the voter to vote on the basis of religion, race or caste rather than the national good. Under the first past the post system voters will be encouraged to vote for a candidate based on his or her policies rather than his religion, race or caste. This will greatly strengthen relations between the communities at the grass roots level.

Coming back to the need to make the parliamentary election campaign a platform to create a national conversation on policy issues, one gets the impression that most political parties fight shy of taking the voter into confidence with regard to their plans.

One of the matters referred to on and off on election platforms currently is the need to amend the

Constitution. But when questioned as to what form the amendments would take, these politicians say they would reveal this only after the elections.

Most politicians with a few notable exceptions remain silent on the question of building national unity and strengthening communal harmony. On the other hand there are also those who use hate speech and spread misinformation to incite the voter and get elected to Parliament.

The focus at the elections is invariably on the political parties and the candidates. It is important to completely reverse the process and make the voter the most important person in the process not only in name but also in fact.

For this the voters must take full responsibility and fulfil their responsibility to themselves and their society, by casting their vote to the political party and candidate of their choice after objectively examining the merits and demerits of the party and individuals concerned.

It is a sacred responsibility which can effect the future of their family and other citizens of this country. They should not vote in emotion and repent at leisure.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com.)