Text and picture by Priyan De Silva

The National Coordinator of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) Manjula Gajanayake said, yesterday, that if the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in its present form even the vision of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, ‘A nation that safeguards universal franchise’ would have to be amended  as elections will no longer be free and fair.

Gajanayake said that the Soulbury Commission appointed in 1944 had inspired the establishment of the Department of Elections headed by the Commissioner of Elections on the 1st of October 1955 by amalgamating the Department of Parliamentary Elections and the Department of Local Authorities Elections.

The principal duty of the Department of Elections was to take measures necessary to preserve the franchise of citizens by conducting free and fair elections and referendums, registration of all qualified citizens annually in the electoral register as voters and prevent the entering of names of disqualified persons.

The Commissioner and the Department of Elections had been given independence which was not found in any other government entity from the days of its inception, Gajanayake said, adding that the independence of the Department of elections had been preserved by not placing it under the purview of any ministry, by not appointing or removing officers in the department without the consent of the Commissioner of Elections, by making provisions for the Commissioner to operate independently and by not influencing the Department in any manner. The Commissioner of Elections was responsible only to the judiciary, he insisted.

Gajanayake was of the view that by the 20th Amendment the autonomous powers of the Election Commission would be diluted, or deprived fully, and erode public trust.

“As the President becomes the appointing authority of the Election Commission after 20A”, Gajanayake questioned whether justice could be sought from a commission consisting of people who are handpicked by the President? He said that even though prior to 2015 the Commissioner of Elections was appointed by the President,  the President was subject to some limits and required to appoint an official with due reputation in the administrative sector.

Another matter of concern after 20A would be the appointment of the Commissioner General of Elections by the Election Commission as the Commission may appoint a person of its discretion who may be from the state sector or otherwise thus for the first time in history paving the way for someone from outside the public service to be appointed to lead election officials.

Gajanayake wished to remind the public that the District Secretaries who were the key people who lead any election were already under the Ministry of Defense, and draw public attention to what might take place under this backdrop when the Commission loses its autonomous power.