Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the postponement of the local government elections, initially scheduled for March 2023, violated the fundamental rights of voters and ordered immediate rescheduling. The Court found that the Election Commission and the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, were responsible for violating voters’ rights by postponing the elections. The local government elections have been indefinitely postponed since March 2023 by the Wickremesinghe administration citing a lack of financial resources to hold them.
The disdain and nonchalance towards a fundamental pillar of democracy, the franchise of the people, is simply shocking.
The President meanwhile proclaimed that he has ‘no regrets’ about postponing the election. “I respect that right to vote. Equally important is the right to basic necessities such as gas, medicine, and fuel,” he is reported to have said during a campaign rally after the Supreme Court ruling. The disdain and nonchalance towards a fundamental pillar of democracy, the franchise of the people, is simply shocking.
The holding of timely elections was never a choice for the executive. For 26 years while Sri Lanka was enthralled in civil war, often amidst intense political violence and a significant part of the country beyond the sway of the State, elections were still held on time. The last time a President tinkered with the franchise was in 1982 when J.R Jayewardene denied the opportunity for a parliamentary election and instead called for a referendum to extend the life of parliament, dearly holding on to his overwhelming majority. The denial of that democratic space heightened frustrations in all quarters contributing to civil wars in both the North and the South by 1983.
The purported reason for not holding the local government elections in 2023 was the lack of finances. Yet the current administration has shown little austerity in its expenditure during the last two years. There has been no curtailment of expenditure within the Government sector, perfectly demonstrated through the continuously bloated cabinet of ministers. Money was not available, apparently only for the holding of elections.
The Supreme Court had previously directed the Secretary to the Treasury and other officials to release the necessary resources for the local government elections which did not materialise. It has now found these officials and the President in violation of the fundamental rights of the voter. From the utterances of the President, it appears that he and his administration consider these rulings of the highest court as mere suggestions for their consideration. If the court is to have credibility it must now, follow through with its decisions and hold those who do not adhere to its rulings in contempt of court.
The electoral process is centric on the very democratic concept since it is the institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide using a competitive struggle for the people’s vote. It is therefore an abhorrent proposition that the holding of an election is some choice bestowed on the executive that has to be determined by economic factors rather than the fundamental duty it owes to the country that still claims to be a representative democracy. It also ignores the inalienable right of the people of Sri Lanka to self-determination and their ability to express their political will. The court must hold these fundamental values of democracy to be far superior to any individual or any political machination.