Local Polls slated for April

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake yesterday declared that he had requested the Local Government Ministry Secretary to inform him before January 18 whether the forthcoming Local Government Elections should be held under the proposed mixed system or the prevailing proportional representation system.

"If I don't receive a response before January 18, I will announce on January 19 that the Local Government Elections will be held in the first week of April 2006 according to the electoral system based on the 2004 electoral register," Commissioner Dissanayake told a media briefing yesterday. He said the Local Government Elections were earlier scheduled to be held on April 15.

"But there is no possibility of holding the election within that week due to three public holidays. Therefore, the election has to be held in the first week of April. I need a minimum of 61 days to hold the election," he said.

"Therefore, I should know the Local Government Ministry's stand if they are preparing to change the existing elections system or not before January 18."

The Elections Chief noted that he on his own cannot take a decision on holding the Local Government Elections on the same day. This is because the four year life span end at different times in the case of certain local bodies.

"If the Local Government Election is to be held on the same day, the Local Government Ministry should make the adjustments and cut down on the outstanding period in the case of those Local Government institutions which have further time to serve. However the Local Government Minister has powers to extend the tenure of a Local Government institution by one year."

The final Local Government Election was held in 2002. The tenure of each Local Government institution ends within four years.

The tenure of the Ampara Urban Council and another 10 Pradeshiya Sabhas in the Eastern Province ends on April 15, 2006.

The administration of the Colombo Municipal Council and Kesbewa Pradeshiya Sabha ends on May 31.

Ratnapura Municipal Council, Galle Municipal Council and another four Urban Councils and nine Pradeshiya Sabhas will complete their four years on June 15. The tenure of Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha will end on March 31.

Another 12 Municipal Councils, 26 Urban Councils and 184 Pradeshiya Sabhas will complete their four years on April 16.

According to the Parliamentary Select Committee report, it has been proposed to go for a mixed system which represents the features of both electoral and proportional systems, he said.

Dissanayake said: "The present electoral divisions are too big. The representatives elected for Local Government institutions do not have a leadership in their respective areas."

They are merely appointed from the party hierarchy as representatives. If the Local Government Elections are held under the old electoral system, a better leadership will be created in every area which is acceptable to all. At present people have no access to politicians. There is also a lack of senior politicians in Parliament too."

Steps should be taken to go for a mixed representation which makes the election of representatives at electoral level possible.

The Local Government ordinance should be amended for this purpose, he said.