Justice Minister Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament yesterday (18) that a new electoral system that matches the public consciousness of the country will be introduced.
The Minister said that there are professionals and intellectuals who are willing to serve the country honestly and there is an expectation of the people of this country for a new electoral system that can help them come forward in politics and the Parliament will fulfil that responsibility by introducing the new electoral system.
The Minister said this while replying to an oral question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa regarding the non-holding of the Local Government elections.
“I submitted this Cabinet paper. I accept the responsibility. The Opposition is now questioning the good faith. When I presented the 21st constitutional amendment, I challenged the good faith. The Opposition raised questions about the bona fides even when a bill was presented on the regulation of election expenses,” the Minister said.
“Even when the Anti-corruption Bill was brought, it was continuously questioned whether there was any good faith in it. But all these three Bills were passed by Parliament. Regarding the Parliamentary Election system, only one election was held according to the 1978 Constitution. It was held in 1989. After that election, the second election was held in 1994.
The election promise of 1994 was to completely revise the Presidential system, the electoral system that has opened the way for corrupt politics. Because of that, the party led by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was able to win 62 percent of the votes. It shows what the aspirations of the people of this country are. In 2001, the United National Party Government headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared that the electoral system should be changed. The UNP announced that it will appoint a committee and give its chairmanship to the Opposition. Accordingly, Dinesh Gunawardena was appointed as its chairman and investigated this for 12 years. Anyone in the country who is interested in this matter was given the opportunity to submit information. I also came as a citizen of the country and presented the facts. A report was submitted accordingly. It is a 12 year exercise.
“We presented a common candidate from the UNP. That is former President Maithripala Sirisena. We declared that all the powers of the Executive President that can be cut without holding a referendum are cut. We did as they said. We also announced that the electoral system will be changed. Based on PM Dinesh Gunawardena’s report, steps were taken to change it. According to that report, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted a Cabinet paper at that time to change the election system. I was also in that Cabinet. Together with the current Chief Opposition Whip, MP Lakshman Kiriella, we approved that Cabinet paper. For the 19th constitutional amendment, we as a Government took a big risk with 47 votes. We explained the facts to the Opposition. We also gave them promises. That one promise is that the electoral system will be changed before the next parliamentary elections.
On June 12, 2015, we drafted a Bill approving Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet paper after discussing with all the parties and submitted it to the Parliament. Our agreement was to adopt the new system before the 2015 parliamentary elections. But the president used his powers without any sense as members of the cabinet and the parliament was dissolved. If there is no dispersion, the 2020 election will be held according to the new election system.
Talking about this issue for about 20 years. Those with money have power. Those who joined the underworld, drug addicts have more power. In fairness, the people of the country have accepted that there are few opportunities for educated people to come and apply their professional knowledge. We have to go to the elections for 15 seats in the Colombo district. Even if there is a need for a professional to serve the country after suffering such hardships, he does not want to submit to them. Even if we get votes from all the 15 seats, the problem is whether we can do justice to all the 15 seats. Difficult in practice. Every government won because they said they would make changes in the electoral system. Even the opposition has accepted it. I take responsibility for good faith. I brought it. This problem came to all the bills that were brought. Despite the challenges, we did not withdraw these bills. Although they were challenged at first, when they understood their importance, even the opposition voted for some of them. We were voted at 21. The opposition gave a lot of support to the Anti-corruption Bill. Thanks for that. And we say that corruption should be stopped in this country.
There is an agreement that public representatives against corruption should be appointed. It is said that there should be an election system where such people’s representatives can come. So we are making that system. What does it mean if someone is against it? We have to have this same corrupt system. Do not want to come out of this corrupt system. Because of that, the Opposition can say that they are against bringing this. All right. It is a democratic right. But we will bring this to Parliament. The people of this country are not stupid. People have political understanding. The people know what kind of electoral system this country needs. This election system is introduced according to that public consciousness. Anyone can support it. The intelligent people of this country are waiting for the Parliament to fulfill this responsibility.
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