A low cost, simple method for PC Elections

After much political bickering it is now reported that Provincial Council (PC) elections, would be held as early as possible. If it has been decided to hold them under the much despised ‘Preference Voting’ (PV) system, it is tantamount to a patent reversal of the much avowed election promise given by all political parties to abolish the PV system.

Whither Electoral Reforms?  

The writer has submitted a comprehensive package of proposals on electoral reforms several times during the recent past through the press with copies to, Election Commission, President’s office, PM’s office, Ministry of Prov. Councils and Local Govt., Civil Organizations and individuals but to no avail. The package addressed several important national imperatives triggered by the emerging political culture not adequately dealt with even under the new ‘Mixed Voting’ system’ This went into disarray due to several reasons as mentioned towards the end of this article.

A Simple Method Achieve Primary Objective

Firstly, apply simple proportionate arithmetic to district level valid votes of main contesting parties/ alliances (excluding total votes categorized under ‘others’ and ignoring bonus seats and 5% minimum vote requirement), in order to accurately determine the real number of seats won by such Partiy/Alliance in each Province.

 This will ensure that every single valid vote will carry an equal value epitomizing the basic tenet of a representative democracy.

Achieve Secondary Objective

Replace the wasteful and unproductive ‘Preference Voting’ (PV) system by simple cost and time saving ‘District-wise Party merit lists’ carrying names of clean, political professionals selected under robust eligibility criteria, in order of merit allowing the voter to cast only one vote for the Alliance/Party of his choice based on the Party Manifesto and its District list of Political Professionals (‘horses’ not ‘donkeys’!). Such a PC would surely not pave the way for ‘hung PCs’ and ‘crossovers’ etc. as any removal/resignation/death of any PC member would allow  automatic replacement from the respective ‘District Party merit list’.

Selection of Clean, Political Professionals

The success of this proposal  is based on proper identification and selection of candidates in order of merit by the contesting parties against a set of eligibility criteria laid down by the Election Commission in consultation with voters’ organizations such as PAFFREL, CAFFE and CMEV. The first step in this direction was taken by PAFFREL in the form of its March 12 Declaration’ in 2015. Now it is only a matter of improving on those criteria and legalizing them as specific eligibility criteria for all candidates. In this regard, a ‘Citizens’ Wish List’ by the writer titled ‘Criteria for selecting election candidates’ was also published in the press and copies were sent to the concerned authorities. The contesting parties will be required to establish and execute a robust, transparent and structured interview procedure to select their candidates in order of merit for each District. As a result, the oft repeated accusation that the party leader will select his henchmen will not arise.

Additional advantages

Readers will appreciate that in addition to benefits arising from the removal of PV system, the following advantages too will accrue to the system, candidates, and the country at large.

1)      Simplification of the work-load of the Elections Dept. due to removal of rigorous counting of ‘Preference Votes’ paving the way for results to be announced before mid-night resulting in a tremendous saving of time, manpower and money. Our electoral system should be simple and affordable to the taxpayer. 

2)      Since the selection of candidates in order of merit is entrusted to the parties concerned, the campaign funds will have to be raised and handled by the respective Alliance/Party Head offices in a transparent manner. As a result, candidates will be prevented from raising funds locally for their individual campaigns thereby protecting them from potential allegations of bribery and corruption.

3)      Clean and educated candidates lacking finances can come forward to serve the country to replace village level thugs and undesirable and shady characters.

4)      The Election Commission will find it easier to monitor the campaign expenditure of Alliances/Parties.

   New ‘Mixed Voting’ (MV) System

This was tested with the last Local Govt. Elections (2018) and confronted with enormous ‘overhang’ problems, delays and complexities leading to a dramatic but wasteful increase (nearly threefold) in the total number of local govt. members.

It culminated in an indefinite postponement of the PC elections due to issues in delimitation.

Besides, what is so sacred about the 60: 40 or 50:50 mix in the ‘First- Past- the -Post’ (FPP) and Proportionate Representation (PR) systems?  As no scientific basis has been adduced, one can always argue for a 55:45 or 65:35. Therefore, MV system is ad hoc and debatable. We won’t be surprised if the MV system is applied, the number of Provincial Councilors will finally end up at more than 1,000 adding insult to injury! Also, the 25% women’s participation could not be ensured under this system.

Conclusion

As we know, the PCs are aptly labeled as ‘White Elephants’ in view of the huge cost involved in maintaining more than 550 Provincial councilors and the related infrastructure constituting nine Provincial Parliaments without much tangible benefits. The enormous cost of holding a PC election will further burden the taxpayer.

As the Elections Commission and the Ministry of Prov. Councils and Local Govt. are hard pressed to conduct PC elections as early as possible, they would inevitably be discouraged from proceeding with the rigmarole of amending the relevant Acts to accommodate this proposal.

In my view only unabated civilian pressure through civil rights organizations and patriotic political will can bring about this paradigm shift in Sri Lankan political culture before the Provincial Council Elections.

Therefore, we earnestly appeal to all sensible citizen, academics, politicians and civil activists to advance this simple proposal with an open mind and persuade the authorities to at least ensure selection of clean, political professionals as mentioned above to obtain a better return on this huge investment in political administration that drains the resources of our country already loaded with a colossal debt portfolio and low productivity.

Bernard Fernando,

Moratuwa.

Email: jbvfernando@yahoo.com