Elections chief on Diana Gamage case

By Rathindra Kuruwita 

The Elections Commission is in no position to verify  whether a candidate is a citizen of another country, Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake said commenting on whether they could have determined whether State Minister Diana Gamage was a citizen of Sri Lankan when the SJB filed nominations in 2020.

The commission looks at several criteria set by the laws regulating parliamentary elections, i.e., the Parliament Elections Act (No. 1 of 1981), he said.

He said that the nomination board appointed by the commission only has a very short period of time to verify information given on the day of nominations.

“The board usually has a few hours to verify everything. They only look at a few things, i.e., whether the candidate has signed the nomination papers, whether the party has signed, whether a JP has certified details of a candidate, etc. These are very surface level things,” he said.

Those on the nomination boards can’t even independently verify the signatures of candidates, Ratnayake said. Those on the nominations board have to accept that the signature verified by the party secretary and a JP is true, he added.

“Even if another party objects saying a candidate is a citizen of another country, there is nothing we can do. How could we determine this? Only courts can look into such claims and determine,” he said.

Ratnayake said they also do not inquire into the citizenship of the office bearers of  a political party. The laws only prohibit non Sri Lankans contesting certain elections and holding certain positions, like the post of president, he said.

“Political parties belong to their members. The Election Commission plays no role in the internal affairs of political parties. When office bearers are appointed, we only look at whether this was done according to the constitution of a party. There is nothing we can do, according to laws that govern us, if a group of people decide they accept a leadership of a foreign passport holder,” he said.