Avoid elections at your own peril

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is stooping to new lows to prevent the holding of the local government elections. It was announced this week by the Elections Commission that postal voting for the LG elections is expected to be postponed due to a delay in obtaining the ballot papers. Meanwhile, the Government Printer has informed the EC that printing work pertaining to the polls cannot go ahead without the due payments. 

Previously the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance informed the Supreme Court via an affidavit that any decision to hold the Local Government polls would worsen the economic crisis. Countless government mouthpieces have opined that holding the LG election is not viable due to economic constraints.

The Centre for Elections Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) noted, “The conduct of the Government Printer is specifically a violation of Article 104B(2) of the Constitution which states that it is the duty of all authorities of the State to cooperate with the Elections Commission to enforce all laws relating to holding elections.”

Sri Lanka claims to be Asia’s oldest continuous democracy. The two factors that determine this status are the universal franchise that was granted to Sri Lanka in 1931, and the holding of regular, free and fair elections. In the early 20th century, a small elite used to possess the right to vote and therefore determine the ‘will of the people.’ The two ‘big ideas’ that entered the discourse at that time were universal franchise and self-determination. With the acceptance of universal franchise, the notion of self-determination, by which ‘the right of a people to determine its collective political destiny in a democratic fashion’ was defined through the process of elections. In this perspective of democracy, the holding of free, fair and routine elections became the accepted minimum standard.

Therefore, the electoral process is centric to the very democratic concept since it is the institutional arrangement for the arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of competitive struggle for the people’s vote. It is therefore an abhorrent proposition that the current Ranil Wickremesinghe government overtly stifles the franchise of the people and prevents the holding of local government elections. It is particularly abhorrent since the current regime has hardly shown any economic austerity when it comes to their own expenditure.

The Government actions ignore the inalienable right of the people of Sri Lanka for self-determination and their ability to express their political will. The holding of local government elections is particularly necessary for President Ranil Wickremesinghe who holds the highest office in the land without a popular mandate. He was elected through machinations in Parliament mostly thanks to the vote of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). Today he holds office on a mandate extended through the SLPP. However, after the events of 2022, in particular the island-wide mass protests that ousted the SLPP President and forced its leader to step down from the premiership, there is reasonable doubt as to whether the SLPP holds the same mandate it was elected on in 2020.

The attempts of the current regime to deny the electorate its fundamental right to the franchise should be condemned in the strongest means possible. Pathetic excuses by a regime that does not possess a legitimate mandate to hold on to power through undemocratic means would only lead to further chaos and instability. Those who pursue this path at the peril of Sri Lanka’s democracy should be held accountable for their actions against the Republic.