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Voice of the people

Although the government and the opposition often agree to disagree in this country, a recent event in Parliament augurs well for democracy and universal franchise. Both sides unanimously endorsed the need for a new electoral system to replace the present Proportional Representation (PR), manifesting a desire for a less complicated and more voter-friendly way of electing people's representatives.

In fact, the government is planning to present its proposals for electoral reform to all political parties represented in Parliament next week itself. The Prime Minister is due to brief the party leaders in this regard. Seminars and workshops will also be held islandwide to educate provincial politicians on the reforms.

When PR was introduced along with the 1978 Constitution, it was hailed as an answer to the main imperfection of the first-past-the-post system - a given party could receive more votes than another, but still end up on the wrong side of the Chamber.

PR does indeed rectify this anomaly, because the number of seats for each party actually depends on the number of votes it gets. Parties which would have been swept away in an election based on the first-past-the-past system, do stand a fair chance under PR. It paved the way for a number of small and minority parties to enter Parliament, whereas only the major national parties could achieve this goal under the old system.

It was only with the experience of several elections that the flaws in the PR system became apparent. The main thorny issue is the preference vote (manape). This has led to intense rivalry among the candidates of each party, as they try to undercut each other in a desperate bid to gain votes. Some candidates are also known to use acts of violence to scare their colleagues and commit electoral fraud. All recent elections have unfortunately been marred by such violence.

Moreover, candidates have to garner votes from the entire district, not just from the electorate they represent. Only a few wealthy candidates or those with the backing of business magnates can afford to carry out propaganda activities on such a scale. There is thus every likelihood that more suitable but less wealthy candidates might be left out.

While the earlier system gave voters in each electorate an opportunity to elect their 'own' MP, the PR system does not. District-wise representation leaves some electorates without an MP, marooning the constituents. It has also been suggested that PR could be too complex for some voters, if the number of votes rejected at each election is anything to go by.

What is needed, then, and indeed, what has been put on the table is a system that combines the strengths of both systems to reflect the true aspirations of the masses.

Now that moves are underway to reform the electoral system, legislators should not forget that the voice of the minority parties must continue to be heard in the House. A sizeable representation of such parties is a sign of a vibrant democracy. Lawmakers should also explore the possibility of holding a number of elections on a single day, as each election drains more than Rs.400 million from the State coffers.

Sri Lanka has an enviable record in pluralistic politics in this region. The new electoral system that will eventually emerge after much deliberations would hopefully be a victory for democracy everywhere. 

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