PC polls further delayed; new draft Constitution likely before June

By Shamindra Ferdinando

SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday (5) indicated that the much-delayed Provincial Council polls couldn’t be conduct in a hurry.

Prof. Peiris, who also holds the education portfolio, told the weekly SLPP briefing at Battaramulla that a consensus among those political parties represented in Parliament regarding PC polls could be finalized perhaps in five to six months.

The declaration was made in the wake of a group of influential monks demanding that the PC polls be put off until the Parliament agreed on a new Constitution as promised in the run-up to the last presidential and parliamentary polls in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Referring to a Supreme Court ruling that PC polls couldn’t be conducted until enactment of a new law in that regard, one-time External Affairs Minister explained how the process could take up to six months.

At the onset of the briefing Minister Peiris said that the government wanted to review election laws pertaining to presidential, parliamentary, PC and LG polls. The minister said that later in the day House Leader and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena was to introduce a motion for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for the purpose. Such a PSC, comprising 15 government and opposition members, would examine relevant election laws, the academic said.

Prof. Peiris said that a nine-member expert committee headed by Romesh de Silva, PC, was busy working on the proposed new draft Constitution. The Minister said that the government expected to receive it before June. Earlier, the expert committee asserted it could finalize the draft before Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Minister Peiris said that a consensus to do away with the preferential voting system could be reached soon as the vast majority considered the system inimical to parliamentary democracy. Prof. Peiris asserted that the PR system caused quite a serious internal strife among candidates of one party, resulted in corruption and deprived voters of an MP responsible for their electorate.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the first week of March called for early PC polls whereas India underscored the pivotal importance of conducting early PC polls at the recently concluded 46th session of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council.

Prof. Peiris faulted the previous administration for creating a situation that made it impossible for holding of PC polls. PC polls have been delayed by several years due to failure on the part of the parliament to agree on a new electoral system following the abolition of the previous one.