Polls, youth, feints and hooks

Friday 6th January, 2023

The Opposition tends to suspect everything that the government does, these days, to be part of a grand conspiracy to postpone the local government (LG) polls although the Election Commission has called for nominations. The SLPP put off the LG polls last year, and the incumbent dispensation, which consists of the SLPP and the UNP, is scared of elections. So, it is only natural that a government undertaking to increase youth representation in the local government institutions has roused the Opposition’s suspicions.

Some Opposition MPs cried foul when Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, in his capacity as the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government, presented a report on two motions that seek to increase youth representation and amend the Local Authorities Elections Act for that purpose. The SJB MPs demanded to know why a private member’s motion presented by SLPP MP Premanath Dolawatte had taken precedence over the one submitted by SJB MP Imthiaz Bakeer Markar about six months earlier. Pointing out that he was referring to both motions in his report, the PM lashed out at the Opposition for getting its facts wrong. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said everybody agreed that youth representation had to be increased, but if a new law was passed to that effect immediately, that would give rise to discrepancies in the Local Authorities Elections Act and confuse the EC. He said the new law to be made pertaining to enhanced youth representation should not apply to the upcoming LG polls. Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe sought to clear the air; he said the process of passing a law was frustratingly long and the LG polls would be over by the time the proposed law was made. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised the most important question: pointing out that since the government was seen to be trying to postpone the LG polls, everyone viewed its moves with suspicion, he asked whether the government would make necessary funds and facilities available for the EC to hold the mini polls. The Justice Minister said the government would not interfere in the EC’s work.

It is popularly said in this country that even if a tippler happens to drink a glass of milk near a coconut palm, people think he is imbibing toddy. So, one cannot be faulted for suspecting the government’s motives.

What one gathers from the Justice Minister’s assertion is that even if the motions seeking an increase in youth representation become law, it will not be applicable to the upcoming LG polls. That is, we will have to wait another five years to have more youth in the local councils.

It is however possible to enable more youth to enter the local bodies from March 2023 if the political parties really care for the youth and are genuinely desirous of empowering them politically. Yesterday, the leaders of the main political parties said in Parliament that they wholeheartedly endorsed the proposal for increasing youth representation; they said they were only opposed to the government’s mighty hurry to legislate for it at this juncture because they saw it as a sinister move to postpone the LG polls. So, what they have to do to achieve that goal is to nominate more youth candidates to contest the upcoming LG elections, and canvass for them so that an adequate number of youthful candidates will be returned.

However, it will have to be ensured that politicians do not field their progeny at elections on the pretext of promoting youth representation. The bane of this country as well as other nations in the region has been dynastic politics.

It may be true that the government’s move to increase youth representation in local councils is devoid of any ulterior motive, as the Prime Minister and the Justice Minister claim, but given the government’s fear of elections, one cannot help wondering whether the SLPP-UNP combine will come out with some other trick to prevent the LG polls. Maybe the ministerial report that threw Parliament into turmoil yesterday was only a feint, and the possibility of a killer hook in the form of some other Bill cannot be ruled out.