Editorial

9th August 1998

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A poll vault

After bluffing and flying cheap po-litical kites for more than a month at huge cost in public funds, the government last Wednesday announced the widely expected postponement of provincial elections — which many observers see as the first dangerous step towards the possible postponement of more important presidential or parliamentary elections.

If democracy is being mortally injured in this process, then the intelligence of our people is also being insulted by assuring that the war would be completed and provincial elections held within four months. .

Everyone knows how many such promises and deadlines have been given within the past four years and where they have ended up.

The dangerous fiddling with democracy through postponement of elections began in 1972 when Sirimavo Bandaranaike's United Front coalition including the LSSP and the CP used the new republican constitution as an excuse to put off general elections by two years.

Politicians are known to be very good at following bad examples. So J. R. Jayewardene did some constitutional tinkering, or was it gerrymandering, and held a utterly illegitimate though constitutionally legal referendum and extended the life of parliament for six years without a general election.

Leaders who call themselves "democrats" and come to office through elections often turn out to be the ones who engage in this gerrymandering the most. Adolph Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s. Pocket-edition Hitlers have followed suit ever since throughout the world.

The manner in which the PA postponed PC elections was so transparently clumsy as much as it was crafty. The PA leaders apparently wanted a postponement since the day they received reports of a possible mid-term setback at the hustings. So they worked out a gambit to circumvent a constitutional requirement. Cowards who can't face the people lose many times before they are finally thrown out.

Postponing the abolition of the Executive Presidency was one thing. That process requires major constitutional changes that if hurried could be miscarried.

But as the daily Island said in an editorial earlier this week, to use the excuse that the war is at a 'decisive stage' is clearly dubious. The war has always been at a 'decisive stage.' What is more, it is a dangerous excuse that could be used to postpone further elections due down the road. It is strange that PC elections could be held before the end of the year, as the President and other government leaders are assuring us. How can we be so sure? Does it mean that we would have passed the decisive stage in the war within the next four months.

The people are indeed wary about what PA leaders have said especially when it comes to deadlines. Gen. Ratwatte predicted the war would end by Avurudu of 1997. Then he said he would unite Sri Lanka and shake Velupillai Prabhakaran's hand at the golden jubilee independence show on February 4 this year. But what really happened was the horror of horrors — the attack on the Dalada Maligawa and the General went tumbling down to Kotte. The President and the Constitutional Affairs Minister G L Peiris had often promised that the executive presidency would be abolished by July 15, 1995. It was more a headline than a deadline. Why do they keep taking the people for suckers all the time?

Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and it is the elections that differentiate an enlightened people from an oppressed people under the jackboot of totalitarian regimes.

Having said that we would also like to urge political leaders to rethink the wisdom of carrying on with the provincial council system. Is it worth the duplication of government administration? What is the cost benefit of a system of local government that was force fed to us by the domineering Indians a decade ago? Does it help or hinder the devolution of power to the provinces? Cannot we come up with a more indigenous system that is closer to the hearts' desire of our people? Should not this be a time for reflection and review.

Political Column

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