PSC recommends 25% mandatory for youth at LG, PC polls | Daily News

PSC recommends 25% mandatory for youth at LG, PC polls

The Parliament Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms has recommended making it mandatory to allocate a 25 percent quota for youth in the Local Government and Provincial Council Elections.

The youth should comprise both men and women below 35 years. The Final Report of the Committee headed by Leader of the House and Minister Dinesh Gunawardena was presented to Parliament yesterday.

According to the Report, the Committee is of the view that the current mixed electoral system (Wards and Proportional Representation) for Local Authorities must be continued, with necessary changes. Observing that the number of Local Government representatives have almost doubled due to the Amendment made to the Act in 2017, the Committee said this number should be reduced. It has proposed to do away with the overhang seats to reduce the number of LG Members.

With reference to the Provincial Council (PC) Elections, the Committee recommends to conduct the PC Elections the Proportional Representation (PR) System, initially, until legislation is drafted for a mixed electoral system with the necessary delimitation as per the ratio mentioned in the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act of 2017

The Committee has also recommended that the National List of Parliament should be a closed list and only the professionals, business community and unrepresented parties in the Legislature be given the opportunity to be appointed as National List Members

“An appointment of any individual to the National List should be restricted to one term and the National List Members should be given the opportunity to contest in elections after the expiry of their term. Every third candidate nominated from the National List shall be a woman candidate,” the Report said.

On the Parliamentary Election, the Committee has stated that the total number of Members should be retained as 225, and a mixed system must be introduced maintaining a ratio of 70-60: 30-40 for PR and First-Past-the-Post respectively.

On women representation, the Committee recommends to continue the mandatory provision for a minimum 25 per cent quota for women for the Local Government Authorities.

“The Committee recommends making it mandatory to allocate a 20 per cent quota for women in the nomination list for wards enabling them to establish themselves in politics through the election process and this provision should be made mandatory in all elections. The allocation of 50 per cent quota for women in the additional list (PR list) should be retained,” the Report stated

 


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