PARLIAMENT

Preferential system introduced by the UNP

Parliamentary Correspondents

Parliament met at 1 pm. The Speaker presided

Two Bills were taken up for second reading

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided when Parliament met at 1pm yesterday. After the presentation of papers and oral questions, the House took up the second reading of the Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill and the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill.

Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister A L M Athaullah: While presenting the two Bills for debate, I am very happy to note that the UNP has stated that they would support these two Bills. The preferential system was introduced by the UNP. But today, when the Government moves to amend these Bills, the UNP members too were supporting us. So it is a great pleasure to note that the UNP too had understood the mistakes they did in the past.

The elections have to be held in March. After these acts are passed, a few months are taken to demarcate the boundaries of the Local Government bodies.

Today, as I move these two Bills for debate, I also suggest that the debate be postponed for another date.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake (DNA): Now, the Minister has moved a motion to introduce a new electoral system. But we are unaware as to what it is. We demand that the new system be revealed.

Joseph Michael Perera (UNP): Today, we are present in this House to support the passing of these two Acts and enact them with the Speaker’s approval. Ministers Basil Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena have worked very hard to move these Bills.

National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara: The Opposition should be prepared to debate.

It is our duty to pass the Act or not to. We are not working to fulfil the needs of the Opposition. We have initiated this move to complete it. The Opposition does not need to worry when we would complete it.

The Government took measures to amend these Acts since the UNP’s decisions taken earlier have proved wrong.

Now, when we have passed this Act, we have to hold elections according to the Act. We have not enough time to hold elections under the Act which is to be passed. You try to put us in trouble and enjoy it.

If this Act is passed today, we have to hold elections under the new law which is impossible due to the short period of time.

Under this new method, a member who is very familiar to the villagers will be elected.

We will not postpone elections. If the Bill is passed today, we will have to postpone elections. We should debate whether the Bill is suitable to the country.

Deputy Chairman of Committees Chandrakumar Murugesu takes the chair

Anura Kumara (DNA): A debate is going on whether the next election is to be conducted according to the new Bill or using the previous system.

But I think the real issue is whether the new Bill is suitable to the country or not. That is what we should be debating.

There was a candidate in the Colombo district who spent Rs 400 million for the election. If the preferential vote system was replaced by a system to allocate seats people like him would use that sum of money to buy the seat. Therefore, if there were 14 seats, 14 businessmen would be selected.

I request the Local Government Minister to clarify the method of election under this new Bill.

The Government members who are going to vote for the new Bill are not aware of its contents.

Under the new Bill, the number of representatives for Pradeshiya Sabhas is not certain. It may fluctuate between 30-40 members.

Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem: As the newly joined party to the Government, the SLMC must further discuss the new Bill and we have already met the President once to discuss our concerns.

Under the previous Bill the lack of ethnic representation was a problematic factor.

However, this mistake has been corrected by the new Bill and we are happy that the Government paid prominency towards it.

The new Bill will facilitate ethnic representation according to the ratio of ethnic groups within the village. We have retained the plus points of proportional representation election system in the new system too.

The UNP is making irrelevant debates and they have no clear policy. They inquire why the Government cannot postpone the local Government election using emergency regulations.

They are taking decisions to their own advantage. The policy of our party is that it is not fair to postpone elections. It should be held at the proper period which is the right of the people.

If needed, we will bring more amendments to this Bill to make it perfect. The support of all parties is needed to do so, while suggestions are welcome for the improvement of the Bill.

This Bill may need minor alterations to alley the fears of various segments of the country.

M A Sumanthiran (TNA): We are concerned as to why the Government wants to postpone the vote on this Bill.

If the Government feels that the Bill is incomplete or it should be further amended, what they should have done is to withdraw the Bill and present another Bill to the House.

Even though there are possible deficiencies in the Bill, we would like to see this Bill become a reality and we are ready to support it in this regard.

This is a good initiative of the Government.

The deposits of political parties and individual groups suggested by the new Bill should be looked into.

Since the Government has delayed the passing of this Bill to give room for suggestions for improvement, I would like to raise the above concern for the attention of the Government. Provisioning of a percentage for youth under this Bill shows the Government’s concern to attract youth to local government administrative levels.

Karu Jayasuriya (UNP): This Bill is of a national importance. There was a demand to change the preferrential vote system.

This demand has a history of nine months. There was a rush among members of the Government to present this Bill to the House. But we wonder why the Government proposes to delay the passing of this Bill by bringing out various reasons. People have waited for this Amendment.

We could come to a common stand regarding the Bill and we must be thankful to Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Minister Dinesh Gunawardena for working supportively with us regarding this Bill. However, we wonder what stand the Government would take today, when presenting it.

We are ready to extend further support if necessary.

Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister A L M Athaullah: We are delaying this process because we are aware that more improvements are needed to this Bill. This Bill cannot be passed in a hurry. I must say that if this Bill is to be passed today, then the elections have to be postponed to make the necessary background to hold it under the new system.

Cultural and Aesthetic Affairs Minister T B Ekanayake: We see that the Opposition and the Government have come forward to work in unity to make this Bill a reality. We have given the Opposition an opportunity to participate in important alterations without holding on only to the Government stand. This situation was not there under the previous regimes.

This new bill facilitates geographically a flexible method and these decisions should be taken by the Delimitation Committee. This will facilitate the launching of development work suitable to villages. This will also help the national development of the country.

The Opposition asks for the removal of the preferrential voting system. It is the UNP who introduced this method and it is they who suffer as a result of it.

The new Bill will change the existing and unwanted voting system too. We will introduce a local Government system suitable to the country which will be obviously a people friendly system too.

Dayasiri Jayasekara (UNP): Minister Ekanayaka spoke the good of the proposed system and the bad of the existing system. The existing system was presented in 2001, in collaboration with all segments. It cannot be said that the UNP presented it according to its own will.

The Government asked us to agree to this Bill and so we did. However, the Government says that it will be passed later. So what is the point in debating this Bill today?

A H M Azwar takes the chair

Dayasiri Jayasekara continues: We ask why the Government cannot hold the on coming Local Government election according to this new Bill?

The Government is afraid that it cannot win under this new system. The reason to delay the new Bill according to the Government is that it leads to a postponement of the election. Let the elections be postponed for another 5-6 months and face it under the new Bill.

Transport Minister Kumara Welgama: When talking about Local Governments, there is no sufficient time to identify the divisions as proposed in the new Bill.

I believe that it is not suitable to postpone elections. Therefore, I believe that it is better to hold elections under the existing system and let the new system be enacted later.

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody takes the chair

Victor Anthony (UPFA): We see that new reforms are introduced to the system that was being operated in the past. It is the ‘Gamsabha’ system that is being introduced once again with reforms to suit the country and the time.

Those who represent local Governments will be responsible to their respective villages.

There are deficiencies in the present system and the new system will provide solutions for them. This is compiled after a broad research and I strongly believe that it will help village level development.

I believe that the already proposed improvements be made before passing this Bill, provisioning for an efficient service by the Local Government authorities.

Y G Padmasiri (UPFA): I have past experiences in the ‘Gamsabha’ election system. I have seen how the results of the elections were announced at the village school in front of the main two candidates and how they parted by greeting each other. We have taken examples from the past system. There are several deficiencies in it too. It is seen that there are issues relating to the amount of deposits at nominations. The percentage allocated for women and youth representation should be once again looked into.

It could have been better if we could hold the next election under this new system. But it is clear that time is insufficient for the changes proposed to the new Bill. People were waiting for a change in the election system.

R Yogarajan (UNP): Before you pass this Bill, you will have to commence the de-limitation. The Nuwara Eliya Pradeshiya Sabha has a small population of 300,000.

This de-limitation should be revised in a fair manner. The lands of schools, roads, homesteads, religious places etc in the estate sector should be vested to the Pradeshiya Sabhas.

Ranjith Madduma Bandara (UNP): Today, we are amending an Act which is very important to the people and the country. The preferential electoral system was introduced by the UNP. A committee was established in 2001 presided by Dinesh Gunawardena to amend that electoral system. This Government holds elections under the present electoral system.

Parliament was adjourned until 1pm today.

Special statement by Health Minister

Parliamentary corrs

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament yesterday that he would make a statement today in Parliament in connection with the treatment for AH1N1 influenza.

He made this observation yesterday in Parliament in response to a special statement made by DNA MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who claimed that AH1N1 influenza is spreading in the country.