By Kassapa
The local government elections were conducted almost two months ago but the dust refuses to settle on its results. Now, the ruling National Peoples’ Power (NPP) is battling a collective of opposition parties in trying to gain control of councils in most of which it is the single largest party but is falling short of a simple majority.
This tussle has descended into an absolute dogfight where local government commissioners presiding at inaugural meetings of councils are being verbally abused. The meetings of several such councils had to be called off as opposition parties have found a new tactic to stall the JJB: walking out of the meeting so that a quorum cannot be maintained.
However, the NPP is proud of the fact that it was able to claim the grand prize, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). The opposition, led by the incompetent Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) first opposed and then meekly agreed to a secret vote paving the way for Vraie Cally Balthazaar to be elected as the second successive female mayor of the country’s most populous city and commercial capital. Its pride wounded by this defeat, the SJB is now hellbent on wrecking the smooth functioning of other local councils, wherever there is such an opportunity.
In response, the NPP has been compelled to negotiate with anyone from any party, in a bid to gain control of crucial local councils. This it has done, but at a cost to its integrity and its image as a ‘clean’ political outfit.
For example, in the Galle Municipal Council, it enlisted the support of a former mayor and member of the infamous Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), so it can control the council. This same gentleman has previously been harshly criticised by the NPP for his alleged irregularities. In the plantation sector, the NPP had no qualms in partnering with the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), a party which it vehemently opposed both at the general and local government elections. This, after shouting from platforms that all political parties other than the NPP are absolutely corrupt!
The NPP’s anguish is best reflected in a speech by one of its parliamentarians. He asked whether the party was supposed to watch idly while opposition parties, while not having polled the most number of votes and having lost almost all of the wards in most councils, walked away with control of such councils? That is not what the people voted for, he said and justified the NPP’s actions in forming partnerships even with persons with dubious credentials. The NPP has learnt this the hard way but opposition parties would gleefully say ‘welcome to the world of realpolitik, comrade’!
The powers that be within the NPP must take a serious look at this situation and examine why the party is facing such a situation. Had the party, or its political strategists had some foresight and adopted a few simple steps, all this could have been avoided.
Legislation governing local government elections was amended by Parliament earlier this year. This was to allow for the cancellation of nominations which had been called for and accepted for the poll which was originally scheduled for March 2023. Thereafter, then President Ranil Wickremesinghe arbitrarily called it off, citing lack of funds- an act for which he was found guilty of violating fundamental rights by the Supreme Court.
Already, one previous local government election, that held in 2018, had been held under the present system of voting and seat allocation which is a hybrid of the proportional representation system and the first-past-the-post system. It resulted in similar chaos. So, the government should have known that it was walking into a political minefield and that it would not be able to control many local councils unless it polled very close to the 50 per cent mark, a tough target to achieve.
As it turned out, the NPP polled over 40 per cent of the vote and around the 42 per cent mark in many councils and most of the wards on the first-past-the-post system but still fell short of a simple majority when seats were allocated because of the hybrid system of seat allocations. It doesn’t take a political genius to predict that this would happen.
To avoid this, the NPP could have adopted a few simple strategies. Firstly, it could have introduced legislation that allowed for the allocation of two or three ‘bonus’ seats for the party emerging first in the district. This is an accepted practice and is also what is done at the general election where ‘bonus’ seats are allocated in each electoral district.
Secondly, it could have altered the percentage of seats allocated on a proportional representation basis slightly. This would also tilt the balance in favour of the party obtaining the most votes. That is not to say that the government is tweaking the system in its favour; it is only formulating a system that allows the party with the most number of seats to secure control of a council without hindrance.
Had the government incorporated these two changes into the legislation covering local government elections when they amended those laws earlier this year, they wouldn’t be in the mess they are in today. Instead, they would have been in charge of the vast majority of councils over which they are fighting now.
It is now a moot point as to whether the government was ignorant of these strategies when it amended the local election laws or whether it was overconfident about it prospects and believed its mandate at the general election would be replicated at the local government election. Whatever it was, the NPP is now paying a political price with even moderates who supported the party questioning its commitment to ethics and asking how it is any different from other ‘corrupt’ political parties if it prioritises political expediency over principles.
The next elections on the calendar are provincial council polls and it is not affected by such vagaries. Still, the NPP will now know that politics is about being the art of the possible, not about principle.
