Two-thirds majority attainable - Dr. Jayathissa de Costa

Shirley Wijesinghe

Analyzing the Southern Provincial Council election results, Constitutional Lawyer and Political Analyst Dr.Jayathissa de Costa said that the results once again had disproved the myth that under a proportional system a two thirds majority cannot be obtained.

Dr. Costa said the UPFA has won the SPC election with over a two thirds majority. The same logic applied in a General election, nobody can say that a two thirds majority is not possible under any circumstance.

The UPFA was able to maintain the same level at the PC elections held previously also in certain electorates such as the Central and North Western Provinces, except some electorates in the Jaffna and Batticaloa districts. If the UPFA would join with other Tamil and Muslim minority political parties there will be no barrier in it obtaining a two thirds majority in these electorates too.

Assuming that the elections were conducted on the first-past-the-post system, all the seats would have been won by UPFA except some electorates in certain districts.

Secondly, he said that a percentage of 60-65 voter turn out is normal. Over 2 million Sri Lankan voters are living abroad. Therefore, a turnout over this percentage cannot be expected, he said.

It has been observed that a peaceful atmosphere prevailed on election day other than for some minor violations of election rules during the pre- election period. But they do not come under the serious irregular practices.

Finally, he strongly condemned the present proportional and preferential voting system in the country and said both are not suitable for the country. To reduce the anomalies of the present election system a mixed system of First -past the post system and PR had been proposed by the Government for the Local Government elections, he said.