Government sources said the electoral reforms are part of the draft bill of the 19th amendment that was passed by the cabinet last evening and would be presented before the parliament promptly to be passed. However, the upcoming polls are to be held under the old system.
Upon passing the 19th amendment, the general elections will be announced after April 23. However, the upcoming poll is to be held under the old system and will be the final election held under the old system due to the time restrictions that does not allow the system changes to be implemented practically.
Meanwhile a discussion is scheduled to take place tomorrow between the Elections Commissioner and political party leaders over the proposed electoral reforms.
The new electoral system that is to be implemented is to be a mix of the first-past-the post system and the proportional representation. Two proposals have been made out of which one calls for having 140 MPs under the electoral system, 60 MPs under the proportional system and 15 from the national list while the other system proposes for 125 MPs with 75 MPs under the proportional system and 25 MPs under the national list.
Ekendra Edrisinghe / March 16, 2015
Big disappointment!!!
Who do you trust now!!!
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Dev / March 16, 2015
I think trusting the same set of rogues in Parliament was the mistake….don’t you think?
Its best to put NO ONE on a pedestal.
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Vinodh / March 16, 2015
Going by the recently concluded Presidential Election results if the next elections are held under a electoral representation system the UPFA will win it handsomely. The UNP will have no chance. The UNP expected the MR clan to run away form the country and thought that the UPFA will be in shambles enabling a UNP victory at the General Elections. Now that the UPFA is intact the chances of UNP getting even 50 seats is remote. So they are coming out with excuses of the time it would take to introduce the new system. At one point the elections commissioner said that it is possible to have the election in one and a half to two months even with a new system. Now he says he needs three months. Those who have some intelligence will be able to read between lines.
The UNP having been in the opposition for so long does not have what it takes to administer the country. The same thing happened when CBK and PA took over in 1994. They made a right royal mess.
The best thing for Prez is to form a UPFA government who have the people’s mandate to power and implement all what he promised during the elections. He certainly can take another 100 or more days to do this. People are getting fed up with UNP. There weren’t even 500 people at the UNP rally on Sunday at Thotalanga. The writing is on the wall for UNP. UNP will never be able to gain power in Sri Lanka again.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / March 16, 2015
Postpone the dissolution of parliament and the general elections, if there is insuffient time to implement the new election system. Without this change the enactment of other aspects of the 19th amendment would have no meaning. We have to have a different quality of parliamentarians, if the 19th amendment is to prove effective and better governance is to become a habit.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Mihindu Rajaratne / March 17, 2015
The priority is to establish the benefits of ‘Good governance’. It was widely propagated against the Ex-President and public rallied to elect a mechanism to eradicate corruption, abolish Executive Presidency and establish an accountable system at electoral level which could only be executed by changing the ‘preferential system’ to the old one.
It seems that current team of Governance focus only on remaining in power rather than achieve ‘what they were elected for’.
It is best that we change the electoral system without hesitation, as many agreed, even if the government takes an additional 100 days.
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Miguel / March 16, 2015
Who has decided to hold the next parliamentary elections under the old system? People have voted for president Sirisena to abolish the executive presidency and the old electoral system.
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Madhavi / March 17, 2015
The answer to your question?
Our dear beloved Leader of the Opposition who along with an extremist, Champika Ranawaka has brought forth the mentioned decision.
Previous articles on CT has clearly mentioned that RW at both the cabinet level and then at the meeting of the Party Leaders requested that as promised, the executive presidency be abolished as stated during the election campaign. However, the when it comes to the current president, he be granted the ministries of Homeland Security, Enviorenment and another as requested by Mr Sirisena.
However, Nimal Siripala, who, during the election campaign, actually worked with MR onstage, had been appointed as leader of the opposition, due to the fact maybe that he’s the next senior member of the SLFP. now, it is HE who is vehemently apposing the enacting of the promises made during the presidential election, for reasons better known to him.
All in all, I for one am completely disgusted that once again, we the people have been hoodwinked by promises of change, which never seem to surface once elected. I thought that Mr. Sirisena was a gentleman with intergrity. Apparently, learned the hard way, he’s not!
As for a comment made by ‘Vinodh’ on electoral reforms, the commissioner of elections has been insisting right throughout that he needs least three months to implement the changes, it was Mr. Sirisena who, if I’m not wrong, when visiting the UK, who when asked by a reporter about it all, said that it can be done within one and a half months. On that note, I must also mention, that he may not have been completely updated on the upheaval going on in the country during his absence.
As for the debacle of the Central Bank and the Governer, what I can say is that RW simply gave a job to a person whom he thought can bring us out of the dire mess that it has fallen to. But to blame him on what the Governer did, favoring his son in law, well, we can hire a person to do a job, expecting results. But if the person has misappropriated his position, that does not mean the person who hires gets the blame. Mr. Mahendran had an impeccable record prior to this particular incident, and it’s a pity he dragged his name through mud, just so he can accommodate the greed of his son in law.
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Ahmed / March 16, 2015
Not only peresidential elections, amendmend should be made to restrict politicians to hold same elected office maximum two times only. Otherwise those old politicos who are repeatedly getting elected until their death are killing democracy. So, the same rule should be applied at parliament, provincial and local government levels too.
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wijaya / March 16, 2015
People are generally fed us with elections,one after another.How many more elections are to be held before the electoral reforms are enacted?
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Charles / March 16, 2015
Majority of the people who have been denied electoralwise representation prefer the elections under first past post system electoratewise. This is what we expected after all the current term of the Parliament expires only in April 2016.What is the hurry to go for elections without fulfilling the promises.We appeal to all stakeholders to rise above petty politics and ensure the next general elections are held electoratwise. This is our wish and let it not be a dream.
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Patriot / March 17, 2015
The so-called Government Source can not be the President, although his photo appears in this news item. It is the UNPers and the JVPers who are longing to have elections under the present system. The president has categorically said that the electoral reforms will be done before the next parliamentary elections as promised. Why can’t the UNP and JVP wait another 100 days and fulfil all the promises made before the last election. Sobhitha Thera wanted everything to be done in 6 months(approximately 180 days) not in 100 days which is a political decision taken by the UNP.
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Snowden Edward Asange / March 17, 2015
Sadly a game played over and over again fooling the masses…. WE the people ELECT representatives to the Parliament. Why is the chit MP system not discarded with? so that the parties CAN nominate their henchmen and cronies WHO were rejected by the PEOPLE..? BRING in a system where ONLY politicians ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE are the ones who represent US and NOT the Political parties. If the current trend is to proceed, we will have MR back on the saddle…ALL those who spoke bad about the previous regime will be HUNTED DOWN or thrown in Jail for long terms….People wanted a change for the better NOT for the worse… God save Sri-Lanka…
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