Friday, 31 January 2014 00:00
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PROVINCIAL council elections may be crammed with what most voters see as small fry, but that is nonetheless no excuse for failing to use it as an opportunity to improve democracy within the country. In the move that will raise many eyebrows, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has ruled out having foreign monitors at the upcoming election in March, perhaps because he did not like what they had to say during previous polls last September.
Commonwealth and SAARC monitors who were in the country for the memorable northern polls highlighted serious blows to democracy, and emphasised on the need to improve the powers of the Polls Chief if real progress is to be made.
Excessive use of the military including possible involvement on voter intimidation and attack on a female candidate, unethical campaigning promoting development projects headed by none other than the Head of State, assault of two monitors, massive abuse of public resources, undermining of the legal framework by the 18th Amendment, limited powers to the Elections Commission, and misleading usage of media were all remarked upon by monitors.
Furthermore, the Commonwealth Election Observer Mission to Sri Lanka said elections were a process and not an event and noted persistent reports of overt military support for particular candidates, reported cases of the military actually campaigning for selected candidates, and military involvement in the intimidation of the electorate, party supporters and candidates.
The Commonwealth Mission said the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in 2010, had undermined the constitutional and legal framework for a credible and competitive election, particularly the provision for an independent Electoral Commission has been negated.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) echoed these sentiments with former Indian Chief Commissioner of Elections N. Gopalswami, who headed the monitoring group, calling for the Election Commissioner to be empowered, insisting that such overarching authority is the best hope for genuinely free and fair elections. Also cited among the Mission’s negative observations was the misuse of Government staff in campaign work including trainee nurses and Samurdhi officials.
It is increasingly clear that the upcoming instalment of voting is geared more towards entertainment than real politics. A line-up of actresses and models has led the way while behind the scenes political bickering and development projects quietly shifted to promote the ruling party’s lustre has grabbed headlines. So far the Government seems more intent on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions rather than the polls, obviously so since it would have greater impact, but the steady erosion of democracy in Sri Lanka is why it is reputedly censured internationally and elections are a prominent symptom of this decline.
Six months on from the last round of voting, nothing has changed – except perhaps for the worse. Transparent ballot boxes have been introduced but no transparent policies have seen the light of day. Declaration of assets, clean campaign monies and expenses, respect for State property, media freedom, open vote counting, independent commissions along with all other forms of good governance remain staunchly ignored.
With the situation mired in a morass of intentional political ineptitude, it is little wonder that Deshapriya prefers not to hear the obvious from an outside source. The policy seems to be hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
