Some of them are proxies for serious contenders. They are running so that they can usefully pass on to their principals privileges runners are entitled to. Such arrangements, of course, are not for free, gratis or nothing. These are paid services.
by Manik De Silva
The countdown to the August 15 Nomination Day for the forthcoming presidential election has begun and as of Thursday 10 deposits have been paid. Other candidatures too have announced themselves with the SLPP promising to toss its hat into the ring this week. but with more time to go, pre-nomination formalities have not yet been concluded. The Elections Commission would, of course, prefer runners to pay their deposits any time now instead of waiting for the last minute and has said as much. It is too early to say whether the completion of formalities would gather momentum due to the commission’s appeal; but it is not too early to say that the list of candidates is becoming far too long and this would cost the taxpayer much in terms of the length of the ballot paper. Most of these runners will not stand a ghost of a chance but are standing for elections for reasons not for the benefit of the country.
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| Houses and Apartment Complexes seen from the top of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on August 7, 2023. The current metro area population of Colombo in 2023 will be 633,000, a 1.12% increase from 2022. The metro area population of Colombo in 2022 was 626,000, a 1.13% increase from 2021. The metro area population of Colombo in 2021 was 619,000, a 0.98% increase from 2020. (Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto) |
Some of them are proxies for serious contenders. They are running so that they can usefully pass on to their principals privileges runners are entitled to. Such arrangements, of course, are not for free, gratis or nothing. These are paid services. Other candidates may be vote breakers fielded to take away votes from serious rivals. Then there will be nonentities seeking national visibility but their “one crowded hour of glorious fame” would not be worth even sixty minutes. Their names will be published in newspapers and soon thereafter the paper will be used for wrapping fish or sold to the bottle man. Television images, if at all, will be fleeting. Getting a sound byte or two will mostly be a matter of luck. There will also be the inevitable jokers who can be excused if they are only throwing their own money. What is inexcusable is that they will be squandering taxpayer funds.
Both the Elections Commission and the political Establishment, past and present, can be roundly blamed for this situation. The present ‘deposits’ or bonds payable for running for election have been fixed decades ago when money values were vastly different to what prevails today. The cost of elections too have grown exponentially and what might have cost a million rupees then would now cost a billion. The prevailing deposits that candidates must place and forfeit if they fail to poll a specified number of votes are ridiculously low. Realization dawned a few weeks ago and the cabinet adopted a proposal jointly made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to raise the bar to more realistic levels. But that was too late for the election we will have on September 21 and party candidates will deposit only a nominal Rs. 50,000 and independents Rs. 75,000 each.
Probably the cabinet decision to revise these figures must be enacted into law or necessary regulations gazetted before implementation will be possible. But at least a long overdue decision has been taken to address a longstanding problem. When there is a presidential election next time round, a recognized party candidate will have to deposit Rs. 2.6 million and an independent Rs. 3.1 million. At parliamentary elections – we will have one next year if not earlier if whoever wins the upcoming race exercises the power of early dissolution – recognized party candidates must deposit Rs. 11,000 each while independents must lodge Rs. 16,000. It’ll be less at local government elections when party candidates will pay Rs. 6,000 and independents Rs.11,000.
However there is another urgent election related matter that needs attention. This concerns the number of so-called ‘recognized’ political parties who are on the books of the Elections Department. This figure is now at a staggering 84. Readers are very well aware of trafficking in recognized political parties that has been all too common in this country. Who can forget Diana Gamage, now proved to have been a foreign citizen when she entered the legislature on the national list of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya of Sajith Premadasa? When Premadasa broke ranks with the UNP following his defeat at the last presidential election and decided to paddle his own canoe, he needed a recognized political party of his own in a hurry to run at the parliamentary election of August 2020. Gamage had one in the books of the Elections Commissioner which she conceded to Premadasa at a price. This was that she was to be the Assistant Secretary of the SJB and be given a slot in their national list as an unelected MP.
It wasn’t long before she changed sides and got herself a state ministry. She made a lot of noise, stridently claiming that she “owned” the SJB and threatened fire and brimstone against Premadasa and his party which sought to expel her, endangering her membership of parliament. Before that matter was sorted, she lost her seat on the ground that she was not a citizen of Sri Lanka when she entered the legislature. However that be, the business of trading political parties for whatever consideration must be urgently resolved and the Elections Department must clean up its register of recognized political parties. A lot of urgent work remains to be done but it will have to wait till the Sept. 21 contest is done and dusted. But before that, other issues including that of the urgent appointment of an acting IGP needs to be concluded.
Manik De Silva is the Editor of Sunday Island, a Colombo based weekly published by Upali Newspapers Ltd.
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