Gang rape of democracy

Monday 20th February, 2023

The spectre of political upheavals are looming over the country with the government suppressing the people’s right to exercise their franchise and express their resentment in a democratic manner. The Election Commission (EC) has said it will inform the Supreme Court (SC) shortly that it cannot hold the local government elections for want of funds. The Treasury has informed the EC that money cannot be allocated for the polls scheduled for 09 March. Previously, the EC undertook to hold the LG elections, and, therefore, on 10 Feb., the SC, which considered two writ petitions filed by a group of MPs including former Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Prof. G. L. Peiris, seeking an order for the EC to conduct the polls, held that there was no need for it. Now, the EC says it cannot hold the elections!

Only three institutions—the EC, Parliament and the judiciary—can decide whether to hold the scheduled LG polls or postpone them, according to legal experts. But the Executive has contrived a situation, where he can delay elections according to his whims and fancies by citing the country’s economic woes as the reason.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has given the impression to the public that they will have to wait until next year to exercise their franchise as his priority is to straighten up the economy. Speaking at the 32nd Rotary District Conference in Colombo, on Saturday (18), he said: “Next year, you will be able to decide on the fundamental changes we have to make and what’s the future you want to have by utilising your ballot. I will ensure that before that time the economy will recover. I will maintain law and order….” This statement implies that there will be no elections during the current year, and if so, the question is whether the Executive should make such a declaration before the SC delivers its judgement in a fundamental rights petition against the conduct of the local government (LG) polls. Is the President trying to impose a fait accompli on the other branches of government, the EC and the public anent the poll postponement he is all out to engineer?

The government’s relentless efforts to derail the LG polls have been condemned by all those who cherish democracy, and they include the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. But the SLPP-UNP combine remains hell-bent on delaying the elections for fear of losing them. President Wickremesinghe has effectively stifled the electoral process by causing the Government Printer to stop printing ballot papers. Can a presidential directive take precedence over the constitutional provisions that guarantee the people’s franchise, from which all freedoms and rights flow? This is an issue that will have to be sorted out on the judicial front.

President Wickremesinghe, in his speech on Saturday, declared that he would not hesitate to do everything in his power to prevent the country from being plunged into anarchy. Is the government planning to postpone all elections by claiming that it has no funds and resort to force to suppress protests against its tyrannical actions? Will it brand the pro-democracy protesters anarchists and have them shot or arrested under the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act)? The Finance and Defence ministries are under President Wickremesinghe. He can always appoint a stooge as the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and get the latter to declare that the Treasury cannot allocate funds for elections; he can also order the police and the military to crack down on those who take to the streets to protect their franchise! Needless to say, democracy is in great peril.

The Opposition is naively urging the international community to bring pressure to bear on the government not to scuttle the LG polls. Some of its representatives have been visiting the UN office in Colombo, and the western embassies. Their appeals are bound to go unheeded. The western powers do not give a tinker’s cuss about democracy in a developing country if its rulers are willing to further the interests of the US and its allies. They install puppet regimes in the countries of strategic importance to them, and defend the latter to the hilt regardless of human rights violations. The Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe administration is more than willing to do the bidding of the West and its ally, India. The past few months have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity with some high-profile US government officials visiting Colombo. Is Washington pressuring Colombo to sign SOFA (the Status of Forces Agreement), which will allow the US boots to be stationed here, and turn this country into a lackey of the US-led QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue)?

By making frantic efforts to delay the LG polls, the government has shown, albeit unwittingly, that it has lost popular support and therefore lacks legitimacy to govern the country. In 1982, the then President J. R. Jayewardene did away with a general election and held a heavily-rigged referendum in lieu of it. The JVP, which filed a case against the outcome of the referendum, was proscribed and forced to go underground. The country witnessed a bloodbath thereafter. A little over four decades on, is JRJ’s nephew, Wickremesinghe, going to make a similar blunder.