{"id":224554,"date":"2021-12-26T13:29:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T07:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=224554"},"modified":"2021-12-31T04:13:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T22:43:18","slug":"the-referendum-an-illegitimate-unnecessary-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-referendum-an-illegitimate-unnecessary-device\/","title":{"rendered":"The Referendum \u2013 An Illegitimate & Unnecessary Device"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nihal Jayawickrama<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Nihal Jayawickrama<\/p><\/div>\n

The 1978 Constitution introduced into the law-making process of Sri Lanka the concept of a \u201creferendum\u201d. It was hailed in some quarters as a return to basics. In the tradition of the Greek city states, actual decision-making was being restored to the people. 43 years later, what has it actually achieved? It has entrenched provisions which no legislature would have ever contemplated repealing: the prohibition of torture and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It has prevented Parliament from restoring to this country its original name \u2013 the Republic of Sri Lanka, by dropping that utterly unnecessary prefix borrowed from the Democratic Socialist Republic of North Korea. It has installed 4th<\/sup> February 1948 as our National Day \u2013 the day on which Ceylon received the gift of self-government and dominion status under the British monarchy, rather than 22nd<\/sup> May 1972 \u2013 the day on which Sri Lanka unilaterally declared itself a Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic. And, it requires a country-wide referendum to be held before a single note of music in our national anthem, set out in the Third Schedule, could be changed \u2013 say, from base to treble. More seriously, and most unfortunately, it was successfully invoked in 2018 to impede the JVP\u2019s constitutional amendment which would have enabled the Ceremonial Head of State under the 19th<\/sup> Amendment to be elected by Parliament rather than at a country-wide, divisive, general election. What was most tragic was that the determination of the Supreme Court on that Bill was clearly erroneous in that it had failed to consider a previous relevant binding decision of a Full Court.<\/p>\n

Localized single issues<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A referendum (or a plebiscite as it is sometimes referred to) is a mechanism frequently resorted to now in Swiss Cantons, usually to seek community views on single issues such as whether Sunday shopping should be allowed, or liquor shops should be kept opened on the day of Sabbath. It is a democratic way of resolving simple single issues. It is not suitable for consulting the population on complex issues such as the text of a new Constitution. For example, in Canada in 1992, a package of very significant constitutional amendments designed to recognize and give effect to the multicultural character of that country, known as the Charlottetown Accord, which was agreed upon by all the First Ministers and territorial and aboriginal leaders, was rejected at a national referendum for widely divergent reasons which had no relevance whatsoever to the question at issue. Foremost among these reasons was the widespread unpopularity of the then Prime Minister of Canada. So it was with the 2017 referendum in the United Kingdom on the question of leaving the European Union. The crippling consequences of Brexit were not explained to the electorate, and many in middle-England thought that an affirmative vote would mean the restoration of the British Empire! I was in both countries at the relevant times.<\/p>\n

An alien concept<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The referendum, as a mechanism of direct law-making is alien to this country and unfamiliar to most Sri Lankans. That was evident in the one and only referendum which was conducted in 1982 in the most bizarre circumstances. President Jayewardene first secured undated letters of resignation from all his Members of Parliament and Ministers. He then forwarded to the Supreme Court a Bill that would extend the life of Parliament for a further six years, and thereby deny the people their right to elect a new Parliament.\u00a0 He certified the Bill as \u201curgent in the national interest\u201d and required the Court\u2019s decision within three days. He then submitted the Bill to Parliament and required it to be debated and voted on in a single day. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was next submitted for approval by the People at a referendum. The reason he gave the country was that he had information that \u201ca Naxalite group intended to establish a military government if a general election was held\u201d.\u00a0 The Bill he submitted to the \u201cpeople\u201d was either not read by \u201cthe people\u201d, or was probably incomprehensible to many of those who did. In fact, it received two diametrically opposed interpretations by the Supreme Court, with the 7- Judge Bench returning a divided verdict of four to three. Nevertheless, it was approved by a majority of the \u201cpeople\u201d in what is now accepted as the first genuine mass rigging exercise in the country\u2019s electoral history.<\/p>\n

Issue of legislative competence<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A serious constitutional issue that arises is whether it was within the legislative competence of the National State Assembly to have introduced the requirement of a referendum into the law-making process of the Parliament it created under the 1978 Constitution?\u00a0 The 1972 Constitution authorized the new National State Assembly which it established to amend any provision in that Constitution with a two-third majority.\u00a0 Accordingly, in 1978, the National State Assembly, by a two-third majority, repealed and replaced that Constitution in its entirety.\u00a0 In doing so, it provided that certain provisions in the new Constitution, which it adopted by a two-third majority, could be amended only by a two-third majority in Parliament followed by approval of the people at a referendum.\u00a0 In other words, those provisions were to be unalterable by Parliament even with a two-third majority.<\/p>\n

Could the National State Assembly have invested such a superior status to the law which it had made by a two-third majority that it would be unalterable by a similar majority?\u00a0 If it could have, why is it not possible today for Parliament to pass an ordinary Bill by a simple majority of one, and state that that law may only be amended or repealed by a two-third majority; or to take another example, to state that it may be repealed only by the affirmative votes of all the members of Parliament?\u00a0 Is it even conceivable that Parliament could make a constitutional amendment by a two third majority and declare that amendment to be unalterable by that or any other Parliament ever thereafter?\u00a0 The absurdity of such a provision is obvious.\u00a0 The National State Assembly was a creature of statute, a legal persona.\u00a0 It had no existence outside the provisions of the 1972 Constitution under which it was created.\u00a0 Its law-making powers were explicitly defined. It was prohibited from abdicating, delegating, or in any manner alienating its legislative power. It was prohibited from setting up an authority with any legislative power other than the power to make subordinate laws. Therefore, it did not have the power to make a law that could not be amended or repealed by a legislature either by a simple or two-third majority.<\/p>\n

One redeeming feature<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Article 83 specifies which Bills require approval by the \u201cpeople\u201d at a referendum. They are Bills \u201cfor the amendment or for the repeal and replacement of or which are inconsistent with\u201d Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 30(2), 62(2) or 83. On the other hand, Article 82(5) states that a Bill for the \u201crepeal and replacement of the Constitution\u201d shall become law if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amounts to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members. That Article does not require such Bill to be approved by the \u201cpeople\u201d at a Referendum.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the scheme of the 1978 Constitution appears to be that, while that Constitution remains in force, the entrenched provisions of that Constitution may not be amended, repealed or replaced without the approval of the \u201cpeople\u201d at a Referendum, but the repeal of that Constitution in its entirety and its replacement with an altogether new Constitution does not require such approval at a Referendum. Whether or not that was the intention of the yet unknown draftsman of the 1978 Constitution, the field is now open for Parliament to adopt an entirely new structure of government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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