Friday, 20th February 2015
The proposed constitutional amendments for repealing the executive presidential powers must go together with electoral reforms to replace the current proportional representation with the first-past the-post system with limited PR, as pledged in the ‘Maithripala Manifesto’, Leader of the National United Front (NUF) M.M. Zuhair PC said, addressing a panel discussion on the proposed constitutional amendments, organised by the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations on Monday.
According to the 100-day programme, electoral reforms have to be placed before Parliament by March 17, but the draft proposal being circulated amongst heads of political parties had provided for the repeal of the executive powers of the President and also the restoration of the independent commissions but not the amendments to the electoral system, which is the first of the three major constitutional amendments pledged to the people, Zuhair said.
The other panelists were Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne PC and M. A. Sumanthiran MP. Shibly Azeez PC moderated the panel discussion while the President of the Muslim Council N. M. Ameen presided.
Zuhair said that there was no need for a fresh Delimitation Commission and the next general election in June could be conducted on the basis of the existing 160 electorates and eight multi-member constituencies with only a few consequential amendments to the Constitution to bring in the PR for the remaining 57 seats. What was important was to fulfil the pledges made to the public. No doubt there was a need for a fresh delimitation, but that could be done for the next general election after the June polls.
Zuhair said further that the district PR system, with the entire district as one electorate, necessitating huge campaign funds, was the root cause of the widespread corruption in the political arena. It was also the playing field for communalism and racist politics, he stressed. The sooner the country got rid of the current PR system the better, he said.
Small parties and communal political parties would, no doubt, be affected and they must not, however, obstruct the President and the Prime Minister from ushering a new era of governance and from fulfilling the promises made to the people in the manifesto to minimise corruption and communal politics that are manipulating the country, Zuhair added.
From : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=119894
