Participatory democracy emphasises the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of the political system.
by Victor Cherubim
With the forthcoming 8thPresidential election on 16 November 2019, all communities of the Sri Lankan diaspora in the United Kingdom are eager not to miss the action.
Groups of Sri Lankans have been meeting at various locations in London and elsewhere to voice their sentiments and canvass family back home, to vote for the candidate of their choice. Besides, media channels, press TV and radio, have also highlighted the election issues.
There are three different scenarios emerging among the diaspora as to who they should support.
1. Abstaining from voting, or conditional voting on basis of race, which was the professed choice by some Tamil parties and/or individuals in Sri Lanka, is no longer the preferred option, of diaspora including the vast majority of Tamils living and working in the UK. The rationale is that this method has been tried and tested and has not produced any result in the past.
2. The second option and an easy choice is to recommend the support of one or the other of the major parties and throw in their lot with that party. After years of voting for candidates in polls in the U.K, many have learned that a binary choice is no longer the acceptable method of voter preference to achieve the desired objective. But they also know that the Presidential poll held in their native homeland is in a different but an interested setting.
The diaspora are all too aware of the constraints the people have undergone after years of civil unrest, of unbearable burden of private and public debt, the cost of living spiral and the unspoken fear they have of losing the sovereign right of freedom of choice of electing a President, every five years, with the maximum of two terms in office. The fact of the matter is that the people of Sri Lanka directly wield this sovereign power, over whom they choose and who can lead them in the perilous times ahead.
3. The last viable option is what is coming around, known in layman’s language as “participatory politics”. This literally means “strengthening democracy and the rule of law, ensuring a corruption free administration and a State in which public security and national peace are ensured and enshrined” in the office of the President.
This so-called “participatory politics” is an innovative idea and one that has been mooted by all the main parties. In the opinion of a large majority ofall communities among the diaspora, this can only be delivered, if there is be a democracy more than in name?
What is Participatory Politics?
In Sri Lanka today, any person from any party, may contest as a candidate for the highest office as President.
Likewise, any voter has the freedom of choice, by virtue of the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution, to elect any one as President.
Participatory democracy emphasises the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of the political system. The roots of democracy imply that people are in power not only at elections but also at other times. Individual participation by citizens through their elected President and by their elected representatives in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, is now the issue at hand, as institutional policies and power has failed to hold governments accountable in the recent past.
The majority view of Sri Lankan diaspora in UK among all communities, is to maintain the democratic socialist principles which is the hallmark of our system of government and adhere to the code of ethics which embodies the tenets of our religious beliefs.
What then is the diaspora recommendation?
The recommendation of a large majority of Sri Lankan diaspora of all communities in UK is to abide by the democratic will of the people of Sri Lanka to support the candidate most suitable to their own needs in Sri Lanka and to use their constitutional right to vote
accordingly.
Without this right of democratic freedom,they may not be able to elect their representatives for the parliamentary elections that follow.
Besides, the diaspora urge the voters of Sri Lanka to exercise the Preferential Voting system to use their second and third preferences in the ballot paper, by assigning to the candidate who in their opinion may not be able to command the majority of 51% in the first ballot, but can assure success in the second and subsequent count. It is highly unlikely that any single candidate can assure victory as it stands on the first count.
Though this may be construed as “tactical voting,” this preferential system will help them to achieve what will provide the best and pragmatic choice of their vote.
To sum up, with every good intention, the diaspora by voting with their feet, perhaps, havelost the right to vote from abroad, unless a new President enables the necessary legislation for the participation of eligible diaspora to vote in all future elections.
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