‘Appalling practice of accommodating rejected contestants should be done away with’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

National Democratic Party (NDF) Secretary Sharmila Perera said that the delay on the part of other constituents of the political grouping that contested on the NDF ticket to reach a consensus on the remaining National List slot couldn’t be blamed on her.

Attorney-at-law Perera said that as soon as she received their nomination, it would be forwarded to the Election Commission. The NDF Secretary said so in response to The Island query whether she caused a crisis by allocating one of the two NL slots secured by the party to Ravi Karunanayake.

“Absolutely not,” the NDF official said, emphasizing the right to name a person of their choice from the NL in line with an agreement with all political parties which contested under the ‘Gas cylinder’ symbol couldn’t be challenged.

Dismissing the continuing media furor over UNPer Karunanayake’s appointment as irrelevant, Perera said that the issue at hand is the coalition partners’ failure to reach agreement on the other NL slot. They are Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna (‘Cup’ symbol), Podujana Eksath Peramuna (‘Chair’), Nava Sandhanaya, consisting of former SLPPers and the UNP.

The NDF’s working committee decided on Karunanayake’s appointment as the EC wanted the NL appointees named by Nov. 18th, Perera said. The crux of the matter is as the Front managed to secure just two NL slots, the agreements among coalition members couldn’t be fulfilled, Perera said, reminding the UNP leadership of how the NDF always stepped in when its help was sought. Perera was referring to the UNP-led coalitions fielding General Sarath Fonseka, Maithripala Sirisena and Sajith Premadasa at the presidential elections in 2010, 2015 and 2019, respectively through the NDF.

Former Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Sharmila Perera had been number one and two NL nominees in their list, whereas Karunanayake was the 10th out of 29 contenders.

Independent candidate, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, contested the presidential election under the NDF’s ‘Gas cylinder’ symbol. Wickremesinghe polled 2.2 mn votes whereas the party could muster only 500,000 votes at the general election, hence the two NL slots.

The 29 NL slots have been distributed among eight political parties, namely NPP (18), SJB (05), NDF (02), SLPP (01), ITAK (01), Sarvajana Balaya (01) and SLMC (01).

Perera said that the NDF’s coalition members could decide on their representative as soon as Wickremesinghe returned from India. The former President, amidst the NL controversy, left for India to attend an event at Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, university, Indore. He was accompanied by wife Maithree.

At the previous general election, the UNP won one NL slot. In the new Parliament, the UNP wouldn’t be represented by a single elected or appointed MP.

The NDF official said that there was no point in appointing a committee to probe Karunanayake’s appointment as the EC and Parliament accepted the former Minister’s nomination. Karunanayake attended the inauguration of the new Parliament on Nov. 21. At a meeting chaired by Wickremesinghe, on November 20, the grouping appointed a three-member committee, headed by Attorney-at-Law Kumar Dunusinghe,and was asked to hand over the report within three weeks.

SJB, the breakaway faction of the UNP, too, hadn’t been able to resolve the dispute over NL slots, political sources said. Of the five NL slots that had been secured by the SJB, four remained to be filled as constituents fought for the slots in the wake of SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara filling one of the five vacancies.

Sources said that three coalition members were demanding one slot each. Among the former Ministers and State Ministers in the fray for SJB NL slots are SJB Chairman Imthiaz Bakeer Markar, Eran Wickremaratne, Hirunika Premachandra, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Mano Ganesan, Prof. G. L. Peiris and Dullas Alahapperuma. In addition, the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), too, had demanded a NL slot, while the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) insisted that it should receive two out of available four slots in terms of the pre-general election agreement.

SJB and NDF sources said that they were hopeful of reaching a consensus on NL slots before the Parliament meets again on Dec. 03. A former Minister said that obviously agreements/understandings had been reached without taking into consideration the results of the general election. According to him, they never anticipated the drop of SJB and NDF vote received at the presidential election from 4.3 mn and 2.2 mn, respectively, to a pathetic 1.9 and 500,000 votes at the general election, just a couple of weeks later.

The NPP obtained a staggering 159 seats, including 18 NL slots whereas the SJB tally dropped to 40 m from 54 it had at the previous election.

Attorney-at-law Chrishmal Warnasuriya told The Island that political parties that represent the new Parliament, EC and other interested parties should revisit the NL issue without further delay. First of all they should discontinue the appalling practice of accommodating defeated candidates on their respective NLs, the civil society activist said, alleging that the appointment of political rejects was one of the major causes for the overall deterioration of, what he called, political culture.

Of the 225 members, 29 are appointed through the NL. Warnasuriya said that like in the past, several defeated candidates had been accommodated on the NL, contrary to the wishes of the electorate. The very basis of parliamentary democracy was being brazenly violated by such appointments, Warnasuriya said, underscoring the urgent need to address this issue.

Among the rejected contestants in the new Parliament are two from the ruling party.

Warnasuriya recalled how the then JVP, following the 2015 general election, deprived him and former Auditor General S.C. Mayadunne promised NL slots and instead accommodated two defeated JVPers, Bimal Ratnayaka and Sunil Handunnetti.

Warnasuriya also referred to former Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera’s declaration that the 14th Amendment that inserted Article 99A into the Constitution in May 1988 provided for the appointment of defeated candidates though it was not in the original Bill approved by the relevant Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) headed by then Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa. The activist also pointed out that Section 64(5) of the Parliamentary Election (Amendment) Act also passed in 1988 also paved the way for party leaders to appoint anyone of their choice as a NL MP.