Saturday 21st February, 2026

The JVP-NPP government has appointed another Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to study the electoral system under which the Provincial Council (PC) elections are to be conducted and submit proposals and recommendations to Parliament. It is bound to take a month of Sundays to complete that task. In fact, that is exactly what it is intended to do; the government wants the PC elections delayed further as it is not ready for an electoral contest.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne announced in the House that the PSC had been constituted under the chairmanship of Minister Vijitha Herath. Other members are Muneer Mulaffer, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, Arun Hemachandra, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Mano Ganesan, Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Darmapriya Wijesinghe, Chandana Sooriyaarachchi and Nizam Kariapper. The PSC is scheduled to commence deliberations shortly. Rasamanickam has already warned that the government is all out to postpone the PC polls further.

The JVP-NPP government, which came to power promising a new political culture, has demonstrated that it does not scruple to stoop to any level to safeguard its political interests. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the JVP/NPP promised to hold the PC elections expeditiously if voted into power. The NPP election manifesto, A Thriving Nation: A beautiful Life, makes a solemn pledge to hold the PC polls within one year of the formation of an NPP government. “Provincial councils and local government elections, which are currently postponed indefinitely, will be held within a year to provide an opportunity for the people to join the governance” (p. 127). It is said that between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.

There is no argument about the need for electoral reforms. The Proportional Representation (PR) system has shortcomings, which need to be rectified. The new Mixed Proportional system, under which the local government (LG) elections are held, is seriously flawed. It has led to a two-fold increase in the number of local councillors. There are now more than 8,000 LG members. This increase may have served the interests of politicians and their parties but certainly not those of the public. Why should the people be made to pay through the nose to maintain more than 8,000 councillors when the LG bodies can manage with only half that number as they did in the past.

If the PC elections are also held under the Mixed Proportional system, the number of provincial councillors will double. Currently, about 450 PC members are elected. There is no gainsaying that the Mixed Proportional system has to be changed before being used at the provincial level. The implementation of the new electoral system requires the delimitation of electoral boundaries. Much has been discussed about the flaws in this system and the remedies to be adopted. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

What the government should do now is to amend the PC Elections Act and hold the long overdue PC elections under the PR system soon while the PSC proceedings are continuing. Future PC elections can be held under a new electoral system. The Opposition has been clamouring for the PC polls, and therefore an amendment to the PC laws can be ratified unanimously. After the PCs are duly elected, the PSC on electoral reforms can take as long as it needs to reinvent the wheel.

Friday 20th February, 2026

The JVP-NPP government finds itself in an unenviable position over the Provincial Council (PC) polls, which have been in abeyance for nearly a decade. In the late 1980s, the JVP plunged the country into a bloodbath in a bid to prevent the establishment of the PCs, which it said would endanger the territorial integrity of the country. Today, it has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the Executive President. It is therefore well positioned to carry out its promise to do away with the PCs. After all, some election monitors have called upon it either to hold the delayed PC polls or to consider abolishing the PCs. It has chosen to do neither. Its leaders who vowed to liberate this country from India, which created the PC system, are seen pressing the flesh with the Indian leaders.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has accused the JVP-NPP government of trying to use a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to delay the PC polls further. TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam has reportedly opposed a government plan to bring the PCs within the remit of a new PSC. He has pointed out that a PSC on the PCs already exists, and the duplication of the PSC process will only lead to confusion and create conditions for the PC polls to be further delayed.

MP Rasamanickam’s fear is not unfounded. It is obvious that the government is not ready for an election. Otherwise, it would have amended the PC Elections Act, enabling the Election Commission to hold the PC polls under the Proportional Representation system soon. All signs are that it will do everything in its power to avoid an electoral contest this year. Its fear of elections has given the lie to its claim that its approval rating has improved.

The TNA is not alone in urging the government to hold long-delayed PC elections. The SJB, the SLPP, the SLFP and the UNP are also demanding that the PC polls be held immediately. All these political parties facilitated the passage of an extremely bad Bill to amend the PC Elections Act in 2017, thereby helping the UNP-led Yahapalana government postpone the PC polls . They ought to tender an apology for that blatantly undemocratic act.

It may be recalled that the TNA, the SLFP, the JVP and the Joint Opposition, consisting of the SLFP dissidents who subsequently formed the SLPP were prominent among the parties that enabled the ratification of the aforesaid shockingly awful Christmas tree Bill loaded with more committee-stage amendments than its original text. The SJB stalwarts were in the UNP in 2017 and voted for that bad Bill, which was not consistent with Article 78 (3) of the Constitution: “Any amendment proposed to a Bill in Parliament shall not deviate from the merits and principles of such Bill.”

Meanwhile, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva has denied reports that the government is under pressure from India to hold the PC polls. He visited India recently and met Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. However, one may recall that in April 2025, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself publicly urged Sri Lanka to hold the delayed PC polls. At the UNHRC session in Geneva in September 2025, an Indian delegation repeated Modi’s call. India has done so under pressure from Tamil Nadu.

Statements made by Tilvin, who is widely seen as the eminence grise of the ruling JVP-NPP coalition, are generally considered authoritative. If the NPP government is not under Indian pressure to ensure that the PCs will have elected representatives soon, the question is whether the Modi government has taken the Tamil Nadu politicians for a ride.

If the NPP government is not afraid of facing the public, it can amend the current PC election laws and hold the PC polls without taking cover behind the delimitation process, which is likely to drag on indefinitely. Mere rhetoric won’t suffice.

Thursday 19th February, 2026

The Parliament of Sri Lanka has earned notoriety for Dorothy Dixers or pre-arranged questions that the ruling party backbenchers ask ministers to help highlight the government’s ‘achievements’ and tear the Opposition to shreds. This practice is not peculiar to Sri Lanka, but here the situation has manifestly got out of hand. The NPP MPs are always given ample time to ask free-kick questions, which are legion, but the government frontbenchers invariably obstruct the Opposition members who throw curveballs that ministers cannot face. Some ministers even request weeks to answer easy questions, demonstrating a callous disregard for the parliamentary process and accountability.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised some pertinent questions in Parliament yesterday. Demanding to know why the government had issued a gazette, placing the National Commission on Women (NCW) under the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, he pointed out that the integrity of the commission which was expected to function as an independent body to protect, promote and advance women’s rights, would be undermined if it was placed under a particular ministry. He tabled the gazette notification at issue, disputing the government’s claim that no such document existed. While the Opposition Leader was demolishing the NPP’s arguments, some government members rose to their feet, shouting and accusing him of violating Standing Orders.

Party leaders should have some leeway when crucial matters are discussed in the House, where a lot of time is wasted on innocuous matters. The NCW is expected to safeguard the rights of women who account for about 52 percent of the country’s population. Parliament, therefore, should allocate enough time for discussions on matters pertaining to the NCW and allow the Opposition to express its views freely. After all, politicians act sensibly only when they are out of power. They take leave of their senses when power goes to their heads. Therefore, the public has a right to know the Opposition’s views on matters of national importance. There is nothing stupider than to go by what the ruling party politicians say about issues that adversely affect their own interests.

Governments with steamroller majorities tend to shout down their political opponents in Parliament. We have witnessed this for decades. Powerful regimes, intoxicated with power, cherish the delusion that popular mandates are special licences for them to do as they please and that an electoral defeat deprives the Opposition of its right to express its views and question government policies. The J. R. Jayewardene government did everything in its power to railroad the Opposition of the day into submission, but in vain. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government did likewise and went so far as to debilitate the Opposition by engineering dozens of crossovers. The JVP tore into those regimes, condemning their dictatorial actions, endeared itself to the public, and succeeded in turning the tables on the main parties and capturing state power. Unfortunately, the JVP-led NPP government has failed to be different.

Those who are familiar with the Westminster traditions are aware that the Opposition plays a vital role in a democracy, and deserves the opportunity to speak and raise questions in Parliament because that is a prerequisite for ensuring scrutiny, accountability and democratic legitimacy. The Opposition is duty-bound to question government actions, challenge executive decisions and take up policy flaws. Sri Lankan politicians ought to learn from the UK House of Commons, where the Opposition enjoys the freedom to question and criticise ministers. There are also “Opposition Days” allocated in the House of Commons for discussions on subjects chosen by the non-government parties. There are 20 days allocated for this purpose per session (under Standing Order 14). The JVP-led NPP came to power, promising a radical departure from the country’s rotten political culture. Sadly, it is moving along the same old rut as its predecessors it vehemently condemned for undermining democracy.

Aristotle has said that it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Those who seek to suppress dissenting views in Parliament only demonstrate that they do not measure up to the Aristotelian standard.