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by Professor S T Hettige

We witnessed the most violent General Elections in post independence Sri Lanka a few days back. The response on the part of civic organizations, religious dignitaries and peace loving politicians has been to appeal to those who perpetrated election related violence before, during and after the polls. A serious analysis of election related violence would, however, indicate such pious appeals would have a very limited impact, if at all.

The purpose of this short article is to propose a more long lasting and sustainable solution if the political leaders, in particular for newly elected leaders who wish to contribute towards such a solution. The analysis based on a critical examination of the motives of those who resort to violence in order to achieve their objectives. It is necessary to point out at the out set that such motivations are very much rooted in the kind of political culture that has flourished in the recent past.

Therefore, a solution to this problem has to be found in the revamping of this political culture, itself.

As we all know, for some people, politics has become the source of every - thing they value; i.e. wealth, power, influence, privileges etc. In fact, some of the politicians can hardly aspire to the above outside politics, because they have hardly excelled themselves in any thing other than politics. Our political culture today is very much geared to providing politicians with opportunities to have access to what it mentioned above.

Politicians are excessively privileged today not only in public perception but also in reality. In fact, it may not be an exaggeration to say that they are the most privileged, though it is not necessarily in keeping with their contribution to the public welfare. Those who get into high political office have almost total command over the institutions, that come under their purview, the public resources that come under the above institutions, etc. The can often use and abuse almost all that come under their control.

It is also well known that they can have control over the distribution of the public resources, such as jobs, permits, promotions, welfare goods, etc. It has almost become a tradition for many politicians to distribute public goods on a political basis among their supporters and acquaintances.

It is against the above background that winning and loosing elections for many politicians and their followers is a matter of retaining or loosing all that is highly valued and jealously guarded by them. It is also noteworthy that there is the possibility that all what they do when they have power will come to light when they are voted out of office.

Loosing an election for politicians who had built virtual fiefdoms around them consisting of resourceful public institutions, private armies and a large retinue of dedicated dependent followers can be a nightmare of unimaginable proportion.

It became evident during election time that some of those who resorted to violence, by and large, belong to the category of politicians described above. In other words, so long as we perpetuate a political culture that breeds the above type of politicians, it will be virtually impossible to arrest the cycle of violence that unfolds before and during elections.

So if we are serious about creating a violence free environment to conduct elections in Sri Lanka in future, peacefully in a free and fair manner, nothing short of a total revamping of the debased political culture that exists today, will help.

Therefore, it is very much hoped that the newly elected leaders will take serious note of this fact and take concrete measures to stamp out election related violence in the country. One of the main reasons for the defeat of the PA at the recently conducted general election was its demonstrated failure to a create conducive political culture as promised in the run up to the 1994 general elections.

Here the new leadership has a major challenge and an opportunity. Some of the concrete steps that the new government may consider taking are:

1. Ensure that politics is not the source of excessive privileges, wealth and undue influence.

2 Legislate against the abuse of public resources before and during elections.

3. Introduce legislation to prevent the abuse of state media by the ruling party for its political campaign.

4. Develop and implement policies that prevent the distribution of public goods and resources on a political basis (jobs, permits, contract, poor relief etc.).

5. Depoliticise public institutions and state sponsored development programmes such as Samurdhi.

6. Appoint the Cabinet taking into account the needs of the country, qualifications and capacity of persons selected and do not use it as a mechanism to bestow privileges, perks etc. on as many party activists as possible.

The implementation of such programmes will certainly enhance the public image of the government and its leaders, and this in itself will ensure that they may not have to resort to violent and intimidatory tactics next time around to retain power.

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