The President, the polls and democracy

President Ranil Wickremesinghe was in full swing when he addressed Parliament on Thursday, cracking numerous jokes at the expense of the opposition, telling several MPs to shut up and sit down since he had brought them into politics and giving a twisted explanation as to why he and his Government have not postponed the local government election.

He grabbed the biggest bouts of laughter from the Government ranks when he claimed that the local government election that was previously scheduled for 9 March has not been delayed as there was “no election to be postponed.” The President, a 45-year veteran of parliament, says that the Election Commission has not legally declared the election and therefore the matter of a postponement does not arise.

The Election Commission, which is an independent body according to the Constitution, earlier declared 9 March as the date for the local government election. However, it later claimed that the distribution of ballots for postal voting had to be postponed due to a lack of liquidity to carry out the expenses. The Government printer also claimed that her department had not received sufficient finances to print the ballot papers. 

It is the Government, as the executive branch of the state, responsible for the finances of the republic that should ensure that there are adequate funds for the holding of elections. Failing to do so is a treacherous dereliction of duty. It is not that the Government has curtailed any other significant expenses in recent months. It has shown little austerity including the holding of a lavish Independence Day celebration. It is therefore disingenuous to claim that it does not have the finances to carry out what is a sacrosanct duty to uphold the franchise.

The President informed Parliament that “as far as we know, a date for the election still hasn’t been announced. Some people are talking about March 09. I cannot comment on that date. To my knowledge, there has been no official decision made to hold the election,” he said. A few weeks ago, the President’s own United National Party handed in nominations to the local government elections. One wonders why they did so if there was no election declared.

“For now there is no money. But for now there is no election either. There is no money for an election, and even if there was, there is no election. So what do we do?” the head of state quipped. 

In his stand-up comedian mode President Wickremesinghe stated in Parliament that opposition members have informally asked for the postponement of elections to avoid a defeat. Whoever has asked for a postponement, unless there is a resolution in Parliament, any delay in holding an election is illegal. The rather amusing speech made by Wickremesinghe would have been hilarious if not for the content of his apparent jokes being deadly serious for the republic and its fragile democracy.

The unelected head of state who has been an abysmal failure at elections for the last 20 years, making light of the postponement of elections is not a laughing matter. President Wickremesinghe may find the holding of elections rather funny since his track record of losing most of them, but it is the only thin string by which Sri Lanka’s democracy hangs. Holding of regular, free and fair elections is still a concept worth fighting for and should not be allowed to be made a joke by an unelected head of state who does not have a popular mandate.