Pandemic, polls and constitution-making

Tuesday 22nd December, 2020

Those involved in the constitution-making process have reportedly expressed their concern over the government’s decision to hold the Provincial Council (PC) poll before a consensus is reached on constitutional proposals, etc. Some pro-government civil society activists are also of the view that the PC elections must wait. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has questioned the government’s wisdom of rushing to hold the PC elections while the country is facing a grave health crisis. He says the SLPP is all out to consolidate its power in the PCs at the expense of the public.

The Opposition politicians need to be reminded that the issue of another election amidst a national health emergency would not have arisen if their yahapalana government had held the PC polls when they were due. That administration was suffering from the ‘polls phobia’ and amended the Provincial Council Elections Act to postpone the PC polls indefinitely in the most despicable manner. Following its ignominious defeat at the 2018 local government elections, which it could not put off any longer, it did its darnedest to avoid any other election before the presidential polls. Some delimitation issues that had to be sorted out for the implementation of the new mixed electoral system were deliberately left unresolved so that the PC polls could not be held.

It is not out of any love for devolution that the government has gone into overdrive, making preparations for the PC polls. The SLPP finds itself in a dilemma anent the 13th Amendment. Some ministers are openly campaigning for its abolition. The government is under pressure from New Delhi to reboot the PCs fast. It is aware that another electoral contest will surely give a turbo boost to the transmission of coronavirus, but wants to face the PC polls before its popularity plummets further. The distribution of cash and goods among the people during the first wave of COVID-19 helped the SLPP with its general election campaign, and it is only natural that the Opposition has accused the government of trying to do so again to win the PC polls.

How long will the PC polls have to be postponed until a consensus is reached on constitutional proposals? Will the constitution-making process ever reach fruition? We have seen some attempts at introducing a new Constitution go pear-shaped during the last two decades or so. In 2000, the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s efforts to promulgate a new Constitution literally went up in smoke with the UNP setting copies thereof on fire inside Parliament. The constitution-making project under the yahapalana government also came a cropper to all intents and purposes. It was a case of a mountain going into labour and delivering a mouse; those tasked with preparing a new Constitution produced a document which nobody took responsibility for. The SJB has asked the government to build on what the previous government had done by way of constitution-making. But in January 2019, the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing a gathering in Galle, vehemently denied his critics’ claim that his government had prepared a new Constitution; there was not even a draft, he stressed. So, what is there for the incumbent administration to build on?

The success of the ongoing constitution-making project hinges on the government’s ability to resolve key issues pertaining to devolution. Nationalistic forces faulting the SLPP-led coalition for trying to hold the PC polls while the constitutional making process is in progress apparently expect the government to deep-six the 13th Amendment so that the question of conducting elections to the PCs will not arise. The Tamil political parties are demanding more powers for the provinces. India is calling for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. How does the government propose to reconcile these competing demands? How long will it take to sort out these issues and introduce the new Constitution it has undertaken to draft, paving the way for the PC polls, among other things, if it is to heed its supporters’ demand for keeping the PCs under the gubernatorial rule further?

The government seems to think that the best way out is to hold the PC polls despite the worsening national health crisis, and address other issues subsequently.