Ensuring a free and fair poll

WITH the postal voting set to commence today it is all systems go for the March 30 Local Government elections where all parties in the fray will come out with their guns blazing in the run up to D-day.

With the UPFA, UNP, JVP and JHU the main contenders, much interest is being generated as to which party would bag the majority councils.

Already campaigning has been fever pitch in some areas while the Colombo Municipality has been the focus for the drama surrounding the rejection of the UNP's nomination list.

This should not detract the authorities of the need for ensuring a free and fair poll as was the case with the November Presidential Poll.

While the two-day postal balloting is not expected to generate the same interest as a national poll it behoves the authorities, especially the Police, to ensure no untoward incident takes place at a time the country is seemingly emerging from its violent political culture.

A big responsibility is also cast on the major contenders to ensure a calm atmosphere prevails as the campaign intensifies in the coming week.

The police too who earned many a kudos for their impartial handling of the November poll should continue the good work and ensure even-handed dealing with violations.

Already there have been incidents of violence connected to the local polls mainly in the rural areas and steps are called for to arrest the trend before the situation gets out of hand particularly at the tail-end of the campaign.

Although the local poll will be sans the dynamics of a national poll where larger stakes are involved every effort should be made by leaders of political parties to persuade their members to desist from acts of violence and intimidation.

A serious attempt should now be made to cleanse the national polity of the rancour and discord that have split society on lines of party politics which in turn has destroyed the much needed national unity to address the country's burning problems.

What better avenue to start this reconciliation process than at grassroots level from where prospective national leaders can emerge. The fact that nearly 40 per cent of candidates are aged less than 35 should be a boost for such ambitions.

The upcoming local elections should be also a time for reflection on another aspect. Have the multifarious Local Government bodies we have today played their role by the public?

If the local bodies in the cities which command huge budgets and are deemed the centres of progress are to be held up as examples one cannot be happy with the overall situation.

Mountains of garbage, polluted waterways, broken culverts and waterlogged roads are but a few of the glaring problems that have been highlighted in the media and for which there seems to be no remedy. The plight of the rural areas can only be imagined.

The bane of most local bodies today is that national politics have seeped into their fabric where the patronage system is left to thrive at the cost of genuine service to the public.

At least with this poll the Government should take steps even by bringing amendments to the law to divest these local authorities of their overtly political structure so that the public would benefit from the system.

Reforms are called for where both the ruling party and the Opposition are merged into one body to serve the public instead of leading them into another political battle to promote parochial interests.