Presidential election

By Shamindra Ferdinando

SLPP National List MP Gevindu Cumaratunga yesterday (5) said that he strongly believed Sri Lanka should adopt a system similar to that of the US as part of the overall measures to ensure a level playing field at the presidential election.

Convenor of Yuthukama civil society organization Cumaratunga said that he would soon hand over their proposals to a Committee led by Romesh de Silva, PC, tasked with formulating the new Constitution.

Lawmaker Cumaratunga said so when The Island asked him whether he still wanted an electoral system similar to that of the US in the wake of unprecedented turmoil caused by President Donald Trump threatening to seek Supreme Court intervention, having declared himself the winner.

MP Cumaratunga said that regardless of the chaos caused due to President Trump’s stand, the US system ensured political stability by preventing a particular candidate from exploiting special circumstances to his or her advantage.

Asked to explain, the lawmaker said that ‘Yuthukama’ was of the view that like in the US the winner shouldn’t be decided on the popular vote. Instead, Sri Lanka should go for a system that decided the winner on the number of electorates won by him or her instead of the number of votes.

Responding to another query, Cumaratunga pointed out that as electorates were constituted on the basis of territory and population, the winner at presidential election should be decided on that. The NL MP emphasized ‘Yuthukama’ never advocated a US electoral college system where each State is worth a certain number of electoral college votes depending on the size of its population.

Referring to the 2015 presidential election lost by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Cumaratunga said that President Rajapaksa lost the election though he comfortably secured a far larger number of electorates than Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. However, Sirisena secured certain electorates in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as well as Nuwara Eliya on the basis of agreements with members of the UNP-led unholy alliance, MP Cumaratunga said.

Appreciating the enactment of the 20th Amendment as a sort of stop gap measure to restore stability, lawmaker Cumaratunga emphasized the importance of thwarting political maneuvering.

He recalled how all electoral districts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces were delivered by one-time LTTE mouthpiece, the TNA to the then Opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka. Having accused the war winning Army under Fonseka’s command of war crimes on the northern battlefields, the TNA had no qualms in backing him, MP Cumaratunga said, pointing out such political maneuvering wouldn’t be practical if Sri Lanka decided the winner on the basis of the total number of electorates secured by a candidate than the number of votes.

National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa has backed Cumaratunga’s call for far reaching changes in the presidential election system.

MP Cumaratunga alleged that UNP leader JRJ granted citizenship to Tamils of Indian origin in the run-up to the 1982 presidential election. Acknowledging that the matter shouldn’t be politicized under any circumstances and the needs of those who had been brought to Sri Lanka by the British considered humanly, MP Cumaratunga said however developments invariably paved the way for promotion of agenda often inimical to the State.

The MP also cited President Ranasinghe Premadasa bending backwards to appease the SLMC at presidential election in late 80s for the same reason. MP Cumaratunga alleged that both JRJ and Premadasa sought to win over selected sections of voters even at the expense of stability.

President Trump’s strong reaction to his rival Biden’s challenge shouldn’t deter Sri Lanka from introducing much required change. The MP blamed the crisis on the President, emphasizing it shouldn’t be, in anyway considered a defect of the system.

Pointing out that the Constitution that had been enacted over 40 years ago was repeatedly tinkered over the years and a new Constitution was long overdue, the ‘Yuthukama’ Chief called for uniformity and streamlining of the entire electoral process. The MP expressed the view that the success of the new Constitution making process depended on cohesive action to deal with both constitutional and electoral issues.