Sri Lanka’s local election generates lot of heat, some uncertainty

Normally, Sri Lanka’s local council elections generate the least amount of interest among voters – unlike the presidential, parliamentary or even provincial council battles.

Not this time. There has been a palpable sense of excitement since the Election Commission called for nominations for the 340 local councils. Nominations will be accepted from January 18 to 21. More than 16.6 million voters can elect 8,711 local council members.

The councils are elected for four years and handle the basic needs of the people. These include regulatory and administrative functions, public health and sanitation, and public utility services.

Though the term of the present councils should have ended in March 2022, their term was extended by one year. That extended life ends on March 19 this year. The new councils must take office by then.

Key factors

Several crucial factors make the election one of the most significant in recent times.

It will be the first country-wide election since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to quit as President and Ranil Wickremesinghe succeeded him. A key argument made by Wickremesinghe’s opponents is that he has no popular mandate to govern. He owes his position to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) of the Rajapaksa family. SLPP MPs catapulted him to the presidency.

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The election will be a crucial test for the ruling SLPP’s oft-repeated claim that most voters are still with it despite the economic and political turmoil of the past year. Its leaders insist that the ‘Janatha Aragalaya’ (People’s Struggle) that drove out Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not a mass movement as portrayed by the media.

Yet, there is a duality in the SLPP approach. Like other political parties, it is making election deposits to contest the election. At the same time, many of its Ministers and MPs argue this is not the time to hold such an election, citing the crippling financial crisis.

The election could cost Sri Lanka Rs 10 billion. Some in the government claim that it is criminal to spend such a colossal amount now.

Opposition argument

Opposition parties argue that the government is trying to use the financial crisis to delay the election fearing a rout. A huge defeat would heap pressure on President Wickremesinghe to dissolve Parliament and go for an early general election.

President Wickremesinghe too favours a postponement of the polls. He has told the Cabinet that the financial burden of conducting an election now is too high.

Soon after a Cabinet meeting on January 9, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration fired a circular to Government Agents, who function as Returning Officers, directing them not to accept deposits for the election. This provoked anger from opposition parties and election observers as the action would effectively paralyse the electoral process. The circular was withdrawn.

The Election Commission summoned the official, Neil Bandara Hapuhinne, and demanded an explanation. Hapuhinne tendered an apology to the panel.

Don’t want election?

A petition has also been filed in the Supreme Court by a retired army colonel asking that the election be postponed. Opposition parties allege the government is attempting to delay the election through Parliament by rushing through an amendment to election laws that seeks to introduce a separate quota for youth candidates in the nomination lists.

Ministers and others who claim the election should be postponed are acting as if this is the country’s first election, said Manjula Gajanayake, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies. “In reality, there have been 74 elections in this country since we got universal franchise in 1931. I have been an election observer for 16 years and never seen a country go bankrupt due to an election.”

He said the money spent on the election was just 0.03 per cent of this year’s Budget. Additionally, the entire Rs 10 billion is not spent at once. It takes at least six months for all payments to be made.

In the end, attempts to delay the election will fail, predicted opposition lawmaker Mujibur Rahuman of main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party. He is set to resign from Parliament to contest the upcoming election for the Mayor of Colombo. “The government is trying to hide its impending political defeat behind the argument that there is no money for the election,” Rahuman told The Federal.

He sees the local council elections as a wider referendum on the government, and believes a loss here will lead to its eventual defeat at a parliamentary election.

Spent on farmers, not election

But State Minister for Agriculture Mohan Priyadarshana De Silva says it is wrong to say that the SLPP is against holding the election. He pointed out that the party has already made deposits to contest in almost all the districts.

“However, there is no question that the election will require a massive amount of funds, between Rs 10-12 billion. The Treasury is under enormous pressure as it is. I personally feel this is not the right time to hold such an election,” he opined.

De Silva said that as the Agriculture minister, he feels it would be better to allocate at least some of the funds meant for the election to help the government buy paddy from farmers who are struggling to sell their produce.

He also admitted that the SLPP’s popularity “is not where it was in 2018”, when the party swept the local council elections — a remarkable victory for a party formed less than 15 months previously.

“But there is no shortage of people wanting to contest this time too,” he said, denying reports that the SLPP was finding it difficult to find candidates now.

Left challenge

Smaller parties too are gearing up for the polls. The Marxist Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) plans to contest in all districts, its Propaganda Secretary Duminda Nagamuwa told The Federal. Many of its activists, mostly university students, were at the forefront of the ‘Struggle’. Some are still in remand custody.

Nagamuwa does not believe the government is targeting his party specifically, though the FSP is portrayed as a violent, fringe group responsible for much of the destruction during protests last year. “The repression is directed against all those involved in the ‘Struggle’ but they have targeted university students and our party as well,” he said.

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In the run-up to the handing over of nominations, various parties are also trying to form different alliances. President Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) and the SLPP are in talks to contest as an alliance. Several former coalition partners of the government, who chose to sit with the opposition, are also forming alliances.

The largest of these is the Nidahas Janatha Sandhanaya (Freedom People’s Alliance) formed with the participation of 12 political parties including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by former President Maithripala Sirisena.

In the North and East, where the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) previously held sway, there has been a significant split, with three parties in the alliance breaking away to form a new five-party alliance to contest the local council election. The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the main constituent of the TNA led by veteran politician R. Sampanthan has decided to contest separately.

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